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Alan Rickman's hand-annotated script, call sheets, research notes, reviews and Emmy Award envelope from the production of Uli Edel's TV movie Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. Rickman won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the infamous Russian mystic. This lot comes from the personal archive of the late Alan Rickman.
The lot comprises Rickman's hand-annotated and highlighted shooting script, printed on various coloured pages indicating multiple revisions; three call sheets, one of which Rickman has annotated; a highlighted shooting schedule; various hand-written and printed research pages; a collection of photocopied reviews and articles about the film; an invitation to the premiere; a photograph of Rickman holding his Golden Globe alongside his co-stars Ian McKellan and Greta Scacchi at the awards; and a collection of pieces from the 1996 Emmy Awards, including the envelope used by Cybill Shepherd and Christine Baranski to announce Rickman's win.
The lot is held together in a plastic box labelled "RASPUTIN" in Rickman's handwriting. Rickman personally archived all of his cinematic mementoes in this manner before his death in 2016. Dimensions (box): 33.5 cm x 26 cm x 6 cm (13.25" x 10.25" x 2.25")
Estimate: £2,000 - 4,000 M
Equally at home on stage or screen, Alan Rickman was a major star, despite entering his profession late. After working in graphic design, his first theatrical engagement after graduating from RADA in 1974 was at the Library Theatre, Manchester, where, aged 28, he was contracted for a season of underwhelming plays.
Steady work followed, but an unhappy season with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1978 led Rickman to question his future. But after appearances at the Bush, London's pre-eminent fringe theatre of the time, in 1981, he found his spiritual home: the Royal Court Theatre. Rickman appeared in several shows, which established him as a leading man, but also provided him with the rehearsal technique - his "process" - which he would use in the preparation of every role he played. He returned to the RSC in 1985 to play the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, first in Stratford, then the West End and finally Broadway, establishing him as a theatrical star.
Rickman's commitment to theatre meant that he did not make his theatrical film debut until 1988, but what a debut it was. Die Hard was an instant classic, with Rickman elevating a character who could have been the standard Euro-villain into a Hollywood Hall of Fame psychopath, Hans Gruber. Rickman became an overnight star at the age of forty-two, and three years later, he cemented his place in Hollywood with his film-stealing performance in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
He set about putting his fame to work for him, enabling "difficult" projects to get funding, as well as opening doors and wallets for his favourite causes. Rickman was a firm believer in "sending the elevator back down" and provided support to young actors, writers and theatres whenever possible. His fellow professionals shared audience adoration of him, and the young casts of the Harry Potter films could not have asked for a more generous mentor than Severus Snape, on whom they bestowed homemade gifts and awards - all of which Rickman kept, and form a poignant part of this archive.
View all lots from RASPUTIN: DARK SERVANT OF DESTINY (1996)
View all lots from Alan Rickman Archive