In November 1994, I asked Alan Rickman via his agent whether he would be interested in co-operating with a biography to be published in the landmark year of his 50th birthday. In January 1995, Alan wrote me a scrupulously polite refusal in what the denizens of Wayne’s World would call ‘most excellent’ handwriting; the influence of his art-school training is immediately apparent in the calligraphy.
Mal Peachey, my editor at Virgin, was so persuasive, however, that I decided to go ahead with the book. I informed Alan of my intentions, jokily begging him not to reach for the elephant-gun or the smelling-salts. He sent me another handwritten letter: ‘Looking backwards is a strange thing to do – I will do it, but not now. It would take the smelling-salts, the elephant-gun and a large dose of hindsight to change my mind . . .’ Looking back is, indeed, a strange thing to do; but in this case, it has been a fascinating and worthwhile exercise to study this unique actor and director. And when Virgin asked me to update the biography six years after the first edition, the case for a second edition seemed overwhelming in view of Rickman’s output since 1996.
I am particularly indebted to the following people for their help: Peter Barnes, Stephen Davis, Jenny Topper, Thelma Holt, Blanche Marvin, Jonathan Powell, Catherine Bailey, Jules Wright, Jane Hackworth-Young, Stephanie Pennell, Gwenda Hughes, Michael Bogdanov, Clare Venables, Richard Wilson, Howard Davies, Ruby Wax, Christopher Hampton, Maggie Todd, Christopher Biggins, Dusty Hughes, Mike Newell, Peter James, Stephen Poliakoff, Harriet Walter, Adrian Noble, Emma Hardy, Nigel Hawthorne, Simon McBurney, Mary Whittingdale, Roger Spottiswoode, Clifford Williams, Stephen Crossley, Johnny Perkins, Trevor Nunn, William Burdett-Coutts, Saskia Reeves, James Shaw of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Dave Granger, Paddy Wilson, Chris Taylor, David Rich of Channel 4, Nigel Orton and Chris Hammond of Latymer Upper School, Edward Stead, Matthew Bond, Barry Burnett, Wendy Dixon of West Acton Primary School, Charlotte Tudor, Charles Frater of Silverglade, Theresa Hickey, Ian Francis and Jonathan Donald of the Kensington News, John Prebble, Robert Cushman, Robert Holman, Ang Lee, Susanna Horng, Simon Langton, June Winters and Judy Arthur of Home Box Office, lain Coleman, Peter Savage, Martin Reddin, Sheridan Fitzgerald, Susie Figgis, James Shirras of Film Finances Services Ltd, Ian Herbert of Theatre Record, Max Stafford-Clark, Snoo Wilson, Philip Hedley, John Byer and others who wished to remain anonymous.
Finally, I would like to thank my editors Mal Peachey and Kirstie Addis and my agent Judith Chilcote for their rigorous encouragement and advice, and my husband Liam Maguire for putting up with me.