Alan Rickman was an actor.
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman ( 21 February 1946 -- 14 January 2016 ) was an English actor and director known for playing a variety of roles on stage and on screen . His first big television part came in 1982 , but his big break was as the Vicomte de Valmont in the stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985 , for which he was nominated for a Tony Award . His final film roles are as Lieutenant General Frank Benson in the thriller Eye in the Sky , and the voice of Absolem , the caterpillar in Alice Through the Looking Glass .