Alan Rickman FAQ

Alan Rickman, distinguished British actor, director and writer. This FAQ will attempt to answer some of your questions about Mr. Rickman.

The answers to these questions come from several sources and to the best of our knowledge they are true, but because Mr. Rickman is a very private person, we will sometimes have to rely on information from his fans and from unauthorized biographies. We will credit sources where known and will let you know if the information is purely conjecture on our part. While we believe this information is true we will withdraw statements from this FAQ when asked to do so by a reliable source. Be warned - there may be SPOILERS in the FAQ.

While we mention some companies through which you may purchase merchandise, as always, buyer beware.

Please feel free to correct or contradict us by e-mail to Claudia New info always appreciated!

1. What are Mr. Rickman's vital statistics?

2. The very first most frequently asked question is What is Alan Rickman's address?

Sorry, we haven't got that one or if we had we wouldn't print it simply because we respect his privacy. Any references to his personal address will be edited/deleted from the Guestbook.

3. What is he doing right now?

For up to the minute news on what Alan Rickman is involved in at the moment, visit the News and Schedules page.

Filming started on 2 September 2002 in the comedy romance, Love Actually.  Alan Rickman will join Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney and Colin Firth. 

Rowan Atkinson has also been signed up for a role in Love Actually, written by Richard Curtis who penned Notting Hill, Four Weddings, Bridget Jones Diary and Bean.

The film, set in London, centres on 10 intertwining love stories. The characters include a newly elected prime minister (Grant); his sister (Thompson); her husband (Rickman); a soap opera starlet (McCutcheon); and a stepfather (Neeson).

Alan Rickman has rejoined his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan and director Howard Davies in Noel Cowards comedy Private Lives on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York. Run has ended.

"When Love Speaks," the Shakespeare Sonnet CD/various artists brought together by and including Rickman/music by Michael Kamen, is available for order at Amazon.co.uk for £11.99, was released 4 February 2002

Alan Rickman voices a character on King of the Hill: Episode 112. "Joust like a Woman"
Guest Stars: Laura Dern & Alan Rickman
Plot: Peggy stirs up rebellion among female workers at a Renaissance Faire where Hank is trying to land a big account.

He has completed filming "The Search for John Gissing". An independent film which stars Janeane Garofalo and Julet Stevenson.

4. Where can we get photos, autographed photos and posters?

Various suggestions but try his agent first for autographed photos (see above).
There are firms out there that sell autographed photos but buyer beware...

Ebay always have a selection of photos, but be careful not to bid highly on photos that may be available cheaper elsewhere. Be aware that a lot of things sold as genuine autographs are fake, so you are better off buying an unsigned photo.

Movie Market in the UK have a good selection of the standard photos for sale, and also have Movie posters (though probably only for the more well known films).

On the Net Celebrity Autographs of Southern California provides autographed photos.
As does CPG Direct
Other sources of unsigned photos are:

• Jerry Ohlinger's (242 W. 14th St. NY,NY 10011, 212-989-0869)
• S&P Movie Market at 714-488-8444.
• One source of posters (as Les Liaisons Dangereuses) was at Triton at 323 W. 45th St NY NY, 212-765-2472.

5. Are there books out by or about Alan Rickman?

First some sources. If someone says the book is available in the US then we suggest you look to your local bookstore to order it. Frequently Amazon.Com will have books not available in your local bookstore.
If the book is only available in the UK try the following:
Blackwell's in Oxford
British Books at American Prices

• There is a biography out right now that has been available in limited quantities in this country and it is called Alan Rickman The Unauthorised Biography and published in 1996 by Virgin books, ISBN 1-85227-630-4. It has been found at Amazon.com.
• Mr Rickman wrote a chapter for Players of Shakespeare 2 edited by Russell Jackson and Robert Smallwood in which he describes his role as Jaques in As You Like it. While published in Great Britain it has been found at Borders and Amazon.com. and other stores in the US. ISBN 0-521-38903-8
• Mr Rickman is mentioned, not extensively, in Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility Diaries (found everywhere). He is also mentioned in Neil Jordan's Diaries of the filming of Michael Collins published in October of 1996.
• There are two brief anecdotes about Mr. rickman in James Roose Evans' biography of Richard Wilson entitled One Foot on the Stage: the Biography of Richard Wilson ISBN 0297816624, which can be found at Amazon.com.
• Mr Rickman is mentioned in a collection of Sharman Macdonald's plays, Plays One published in 1995 by Faber & Faber. The ISBN # is 0571176216. This seems to only to have been published in Great Britain.
• And finally Mr. Rickman and Sharman MacDonald are co-authors of the screenplay for The Winter Guest published by Faber & Faber ISBN 0571199496.

6. Where are his videos/dvds available?

The more recent videos or the more popular ones (Die Hard, Rasputin and Robin Hood for instance) are available in most video stores in America but you may have to look hard. Die Hard has recently been released in letterbox format.

Close My Eyes, Closet Land, Fallen Angels (Murder Obliquely) can all be found at some video stores, but it may take some searching.

However, some of these can be obtained through the mail in the US from Best Video (see below).

Barchester Chronicles is available in PAL format (not playable on US machines but translatable to US format if you have someone to do it) from Black Star in Ireland (see below). They are fast and reliable and send a nice little thank you note with your tape. Its a also available from the NZ Internet Shop also in PAL (see below). Romeo and Juliet is available for purchase (for the general public at around $34.99 (was previously only available to libraries and schools etc for $99) at Ambrose Video Publishing . It has also been found in some local libraries.

Mesmer is available in Canada from VideoFlicks (see below).

"The Preacher" can be found at Phoenix/Coronet Multimedia for $89. When ordering, ask for THE PREACHER (not Revolutionary Witness). Item #61383-V4. ISBN: 0-3880-9900-3.
IMHO it is worth the money but beware it is only 20 minutes...of course it is 20 minutes of only Alan Rickman. They are open M-F 8:30a-5:30p CST. Their number is 1-800-221-1274.

The Winter Guest is available for rental. It is now also available at Amazon.com for $16.99 (below).

A new suggestion is to try www.bargainflix.com - a search engine for DVDs which searches by title or by actor. It compares prices at dozens of sites and gives you the results including shipping. You can get Bob Roberts for less than $8, the NEW Robin Hood POT for less than $20, Blow Dry for under $10, Dark Harbor special edition for under $13, S&S for under $22 and so on.

Places that have been mentioned that find videos or have had copies of Alan Rickman's movies are:

• Video Finders at 1-800-343-4727
• Movies Unlimited at 1-800-523-0823
• Videoflicks
• Best Video
• Videoexpress
• Black Star
• NZ Internet Shop
• Spree Superstore
• BuyVideos.com

Disclaimer - we are not affiliated with any of the above websites. We are suggesting them as sources of videos/DVDs, and do not take responsibility for the quality/reliability of their service.

7. What's the deal with Mesmer?

Mesmer, is the story of the father of hypnotism that Mr. Rickman made with a Dennis Potter script directed by Roger Spottiswoode. The original backers claimed the finished film was not the version they had financed and sued for their investment to be returned. The film is now owned by an insurance company and may never be seen in the theater. The video of Mesmer is available from Videoflicks (see above).

8. Where are his audio tapes available?

• Chivers at 1-800-621-0182, has Blind Corner (ISBN 0-81619-966-3) for $54.95 and Return of the Native (ISBN 1-85549-075-7) for $94.95

• Cover to Cover sells Native for 34.99 pounds sterling but the cost of airmail to the US is nearly $20. They can be reached at P.O. Box 112 Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 3UG UK. Telephone 44-1264-731227. A U.S. number posted for Cover to Cover is 404-881-0188. Return of the Native is also available on the web at The Internet Talking Book Shop and at Audiopartners for $44.95 and at Amazon.com for $31.47.

9. What is the source of the quotes from the following movies?

• The "My soul's true face" quote is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portugese,number XXXIX.
• The poem Col Brandon reads to Marianne is from The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser Book V, Canto II Verse 39
• The poem in "Truly, Madly, Deeply" is "The Dead Woman" from The Captains Verses by Pablo Neruda. It is available online at: The Dead Woman

10. Does our Alan Rickman (as opposed to the NYC Allen Rickman) appear in:

a) Shock, Shock Shock! or I Was a Teenage Zombie: No.
b) The Fifth Musketeer: Consensus is No.

11.Can I find any videos of Mr Rickman on the Internet?

• Suzanne's collection of AR video clips is the most comprehensive
• Download 30 seconds of interview re:Michael Collins
• Sense and Sensibility Trailer (very large)
• Download the trailer from An Awfully Big Adventure
• Download the trailers and interview from The Winter Guest

And from Die Hard:

• Interview with Alan Rickman
• Behind the Scenes
• "Yippee-kay-yea....!"
• "Blow the roof"
• Die Hard Trailer

There are several potential places for Rickmaniacs to gather.

We meet every Thursday at Claudia's Solo Flights Chat Room, alternating between 4:00 to 8:00 pm EST on one Thursday, and from 8:00 to 11:00 pm EST on the next Thursday. If you would like to be added to the "Chat Reminder" e-mail list, which I send out every Thursday morning, please send me an e-mail.

The guestbook. A place to discuss his work. Also leave your praise, comments or Rickman spottings here.
Spam and Trolls are not appreciated. Postings may be subject to edit (see 13 below).

The IRC chat room. This has been quiet but it would be nice to get it going again - the meeting times are 5pm EST (10pm gmt) on Wed. and 5pm EST (10pm gmt) on Saturday. Trolls are not appreciated here either. For more information see IRC Channel

And a little differently from the others - the Flights of Fancy Guestbook Rickmaniacs weave stories about their favorite Alan Rickman characters. Warning: This can be addictive!