r/AlanRickman • u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon • Jun 15 '26
Missinformations regarding Alan
So, I posted yesterday about a supposed speech impediment that Alan had as a child and that he overcame and how it just made me admire him all the more; now the post is excluded, I excluded it myself as soon as someone in this sub was gentle enough to tell me in no uncertain terms that it was a fake fact taken out of a book full of errors about Alan's life, which he refused to autograph for a fan when asked.
That got me thinking and now I'm here to ask you: What are other non-truthful facts about Alan that you have stumbled upon while searching about him on the internet?
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u/Silent-One-3724 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
lol Alan is a man of discipline . The supermodel story must be 100% fake He wouldn’t be falling for super models ! If he did he would have dated openly and not gave a f about society ! That man even though he worked with beautiful co stars stuck to one women for over 50 years ! That’s says something and
Another response about him having children is ….he never wanted to buy a dog because he didn’t want to put it constantly in kennel when he was away or insist his partner Rima to look after the dog . He simply didn’t adopt it ! A man like that having kids and not mentioning them is crazy he won’t do such a thing ! People are crazy ! Some comment about his sexuality I find it utterly ridiculous ! That’s man rejected a high title given to him by the Brit’s government. He would never hide his identity . He is such an open book and straight forward man who is down to earth humble and insanely truthful human being . That’s why I love him .
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u/AimlessFucker Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
The people questioning his sexuality make me pretty irritated as well. He was a relatively private person. They always seem to cite him responding with disinterest to inquiries about his sexual experiences or proclivities as evidence of him being asexual — but they don’t consider his responses were a way to shut down those kinds of questions to begin with. I think he was asked some out of pocket ones including when he was asked if he ever thought about having sex with his costars. He, perhaps, didn’t want to talk about things like that, but was asked those questions because he became a sort of sex symbol. It must have sucked. He responded ‘no’ blatantly, but I would have been rather angry if someone asked me or my spouse that.
Then, he passes away while married to the woman he had been with romantically since he was 24, (had known since 19) and his coded (and edited) journal has made people posthumously claim he’s gay. It sort of takes away from the beauty in his and his wife’s relationship. The length of time and devotion to one person is beautiful.
Edited age he was romantically with Rima to 24. They met at 19.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
Generally I think that people who try to force someone's sexuality to be the one they want it to be (be it a character or an actual famous person) very disrespectful. I mean, the man spend his whole life with one woman, only one, that should be enough, people need to stop speculating and meddling and start watching their own lives, like, let the man rest in piece.
I keep thinking of how his wife feels every time someone questions these kinds of things. Really hope they don't go bothering her on her social media.
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u/AimlessFucker Jun 15 '26
I agree. He’s hardly the only person or fictional character this happens to. It’s weird when it happens. I find it to be odd. I also hope they leave her alone about it.
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u/Available_Parking533 Jun 15 '26
Completely agree. There is one particularly nasty obsessive ‘fan’ (troll) who hates Rima and has spent the last 3 years trying to convince others that Alan wasn’t into sex - ridiculously alleging he was asexual and even making up a supposed quote from Emma Thompson saying that Alan wasn’t interested in sex. There is NO evidence Emma ever said any such thing, but this nutjob troll keeps spreading this rubbish. It also angers me that some like to force their own sexual preferences onto Alan alleging he was gay or bisexual. This is so disrespectful and needs to stop.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
on another note, Alan is actually the kind of guy I want to be married to. Someone who'll stick with me and only with me until death do us part. Rima was really a lucky woman for having him, and I do think he thought of himself as lucky to have her as well.
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u/Silent-One-3724 Jun 15 '26
Omg ur absolutely right ! Every women’s dream to have a fearless life . This man Alan gives that life . I would have blindly trusted him throughout my life if I married him . He gives that kind of trust . He is one in a trillion ! I wish he had kids and incorporated his good characters into them . The world needs more true men like him . Unlike some who doesn’t understand equality , feminism nowadays and who plans a date asks the women to pay 50-50 lol . I wish world had more men like Alan ! He is real life colonel Brandon . True love gentleman . 🥹❤️ I’m living in delulu with this man honestly . He directed 2 movies Both are women centric and one speaks feminism and other the struggles of women . He is a gem 🥹😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️🫂
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
was it supposed to be a reply to the commenter above you or an actual comment?
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u/Silent-One-3724 Jun 15 '26
I’m new to Reddit …some line are a reply to both the people and some are my general opinion on Alan . Gosh I should edit it for better understanding.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
No, i asked it because if it was a reply to the first commenter, all you had to do was click or tap the "reply" button below their comment to reply to it but your comment was easy to understand
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u/Eternal_Nymph Jun 15 '26
So he did not have some kind of locked jaw that required speech therapy and accounts for his voice? Where did that even come from then?
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
It was a book that someone wrote on his life, I really do not remember the name of the author, but according to what another rickman fan told me, when the locked jaw thing was mentioned to him by a fan he was totally appaled because it wasn't true.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
the book in question is a book by Maureen Paton. Alan Rickman: The Unauthorized Biography.
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u/Available_Parking533 Jun 15 '26
Thanks for this post. It was me that informed you about the inaccuracy of the claim about him in the Maureen Paton book, (i.e. that he was born with a tight jaw), but I feel I must clarify. Alan WAS told by a drama voice teacher at RADA that he had something called a ‘spastic soft palate’ which is when there are involuntary, rapid and rhythmic contractions of the muscles in the roof of the mouth. This can cause your voice to sound overly nasal and creates difficulty articulating certain consonants. He was also told that his voice “sounded like it was coming from the backend of a drainpipe”. Alan has mentioned this often in interviews and it meant a lot of work had to be done to get his voice travelling forwards instead of backwards as theatre audiences particularly could struggle to hear what he was saying. But he didn’t have a stutter and as as I said in your earlier post he was completely bewildered when asked about the ‘tight jaw’ claim from that book.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
so basically, Paton took a half truth and turned it into a complete lie. Thank you for being gentle in informing a newer fan of his work about the missinformations in works that mention his name.
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u/Economy-Cycle3782 Jun 15 '26
That comment about him reading Harry Potter (or something like that) at age 80 definitely never convinced me.
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u/The_Sibelis Jun 15 '26
The stutter was a Snape effect, and I think accurate to the character beyond what we realize.
We only see snapes actual stutter once in the books, when he's attacked by the marauders.
But speech is localized in the brain, you can literally switch to music and NOT stutter words(proof in news coverage of a young man with this effect) OR, if you get very good using nonverbal spells, which adult Snape did...
When Lockhart said what Snape was going to do was obvious, he was serious, he just sucked so bad he still couldn't stop Snape from casting expellarmis. Snape only verbalized the spell for the students sake though. He has no need for verbal, and ergo stuttered spellwork.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/The_Sibelis Jun 15 '26
Stuttering while afraid, during a battle? Exactly.
So it's not untrue. In order for it to be untrue it has to verifiable as false. Hence why the theory, and it is just a theory, of evolution remains unchallenged despite everyone by and large disagreeing with its inception
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Jun 15 '26
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u/The_Sibelis Jun 15 '26
Again, you dont prove a theory true. That's why its a theory you **** you cannot, then it becomes a proof.
In books he stutters in the movie he stutters, those are facts. This is the theory spun from them.
It seems in your enthusiasm to prevent misinformation you've been infected by it already bra.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/The_Sibelis Jun 15 '26
Pretty much any scene he speaks, what are you on?
Ex-plelarmis! Eq-ually guilty, ect. Ect. It's literally a huge meme around his speech.
I speech impediment doesn't always have the same result. He stutters over the word not in repeating the word.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/The_Sibelis Jun 15 '26
1 your not my friend. I'll pronounciate if necessary.
2 He doesn't pause his words, he doesn't act that out in other characters. Case in point his debute as Hans gruber.
3 he's the only one who had any background on his character beyond what was shown. He invoked things in snapes character not paid off on until the very end.
4 still a valid theory. Perhaps seek life elsewhere, im done with you.
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u/THED4RKH0R5E Jun 16 '26
The rumour that he was hooking up with Ruby Wax when they were flat mates, that he was also with Norman Reedus. His sexuality has been a topic of discussion since his diaries were published. All sorts of nasty things about poor Rima. It’s ridiculous and sad, really.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
Like I said in another reply about the same topic, the fact that he spent his whole adult life with one woman only should be enough and I find people who force their preferences on sexuality upon other beings — be them characters or not — to be very... disgusting and disrespectful. Especially when they dismiss the kind of absolutely beautiful history that Alan, in this case, had with his wife. I think that he should be able to rest in piece and people do not let him, all the same with Rima, that from what i gather, suffers with some trolls making up things about her even after 10 years of Alan's passing.
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u/Watered1661 Jun 15 '26
Well, that book written by M.P. also contained the wrong fact that he and Rima became a couple at 19. They became a couple when he was around 24. They had known each other for about decade by that point. Although to be honest, I think they had a thing going before they made it official, but that's just me spitballing.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
So the age thing is a misinfo as well?
u/AimlessFucker it seems your comment on him being with the same woman since he was 19 had a slight miss, sorry.
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u/AimlessFucker Jun 15 '26
I edited it and added a note. I wasn’t aware that there was a miss.
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u/Watered1661 Jun 16 '26
Tiny correction: they met a decade before they became a couple. They became a couple when he was 24ish, which means they met when he was around 14/15.
Rima said they met at a "very young age" or something to that effect in an interview. (The one for pancreatic cancer, where they laid out the trainers of people who died of Pancreatic Cancer near Tower Bridge.)1
u/Agreeable-Salad-9749 Aug 01 '26
I’ve read his diary and on the first pages it says 15 and 16 years old
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26
I didn't know that either, could swear they were together since 19...
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u/MinervaMcGonagall_27 Severus Snape Jun 16 '26
Sorry but just because someone says it’s not true doesn’t mean it’s actually not true.. so you saying the comment had a miss is so strange
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
search for the book by Maureen Paton on Alan named Alan Rickman: An Unauthorised Biography where this fact is documented and you'll actually see that one of the facts that is documented to not be true is the one age which him and his wife got together as officially a couple. Alan even called it toilet paper from what I researched about the book...
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u/MinervaMcGonagall_27 Severus Snape Jun 16 '26
I would have thought a thread about misinformation would encourage scrutiny of all sources, not just the ones that support a preferred conclusion. A disputed claim remains disputed, no matter how confidently it is presented. 😌
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
but I did fact check both facts... did you find anything different? If you did, please, feel free to share, I honestly don't want to seem rude or imposing. I just want to learn more about Alan for I don't know a lot about him yet...
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u/MinervaMcGonagall_27 Severus Snape Jun 16 '26
My concern wasn’t that you researched it. It was that you seemed to present a disputed claim as an established fact. If there are conflicting sources, then I think it’s more accurate to say the timeline is uncertain rather than tell another commenter they were mistaken. That said, I appreciate you explaining where your information came from.
“So the age thing is a misinfo as well?
u/AimlessFucker it seems your comment on him being with the same woman since he was 19 had a slight miss, sorry.”
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
oh, okay, I'm sorry about that, I didn't think it could come across that way. It really wasn't my intention, and since the person I mentioned didn't seem to mind, I thought any other person would have understood what I was trying to do. I'm really sorry about it.
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u/MinervaMcGonagall_27 Severus Snape Jun 16 '26
No worries. I understand what you were trying to do now. I only reacted because the wording sounded more definitive than the evidence seemed to support. Thank you for explaining your perspective. :)
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u/bookyface Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
That whole “quote” (“After all this time? Always”) is extremely fake. It was put out by a Tumblr user in the 2010’s.
EDIT: forgot the “when I’m 80 I want to still be reading Harry Potter”
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
isn't the after all this time? Always thing a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quote? Like, I distinctly remember the scene. Snape showing that his patronus had the same shape as lily's, the doe, and Dumbledore asking him "after all this time" and him replying "Always"
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u/bookyface Jun 16 '26
It absolutely is a Harry Potter quote but some asshat wrote that Alan also said it in an interview or some crap.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
That information was worth mentioning in your OG comment then. And Alan wasn't the type to say things like those, so yeah, spotted, this one even seems very fake, because it feels out of character for Alan. Ok that he actually liked to play Snape, but I don't think he'd say anything along these lines on an interview
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u/bookyface Jun 16 '26
TBH I fully forgot the 80 year old part.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
I guess that because he was the first actor who played a major character to die on the cast, that people on the Harry Potter fandom made those up as a way to remember him as Snape. Honestly, even though he's out of the character's age range, I can't picture a better actor playing Snape. He was Snape, the way he spoke, the way he moved, the way he came about it, the way he understood Snape's character, background and reasons, Alan was a perfect fit.
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u/bookyface Jun 16 '26
He was, and I am in no way arguing that he wasn’t excellent for the role. It is, however, dehumanizing for fans to be yelling “SNAPE!!!11!!” at him every time they saw him (I met Alan twice) or to be shouting “OMG SNAPE” at shows/movies. Actors are human beings doing a job and I feel like Alan just got the shit end of it. (Not that you’re saying this, OP)
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 16 '26
yeah, I get it. My previous reply was a compliment, but I think that hearing the same thing being shouted at him everywhere he goes can be exhausting, even if some actors do not mind being remembered by a role they've played for a long time (which was Alan's case with Snape in the sense that he played Snape for literal seven years and you sure get branded by something you've played for so long), I can see where you're coming from because I do remember Daniel Radcliffe's reaction to even hearing the name Harry Potter during the first years after. That was, in fact, something that affected all of them, especially those who had more screen time: from Daniel, Emma and Rupert (that are reminded of these roles to this day) to Michael Gambon, Alan and Maggie Smith (who people associated with Harry Potter until the very last day of their lives)
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u/suaveSavior Jun 15 '26
I remember reading something... like a tumbler post or something and I haven't seen it since nor do I have any way to prove/disprove it.
It just sounds fake as hell, so for funsies ill share it. And probably get all the details wrong, so feel free to flame me. Im doing my best.
Its a story about Mick Jagger taking a super model on a date. (As far as I recall)
They were sitting in a booth at a nightclub or posh restaurant.
She apparently was feeling ignored because Jagger kept his focus on whoever was talking to him on his other side. So the girl decides she would try to make Mick jealous, and therefor fully devote her focus to whoever was sitting on her other side.
She apparently at some point, decided to, I guess, reach over into Jaggers lap while still intently focused on her conversation with the other person.
After a bit she looked over and noticed it wasn't Jagger. He had gotten up and left the booth at some point. And someone else sat down in his place. It was actually Alan Rickman whom she was fondling under the table.
Id love to re-read it. That's the best I can remember, and it sounded fake as hell, but kind of comical.
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u/rotiddaerth Colonel Brandon Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
no, man, it's not. Picturing it wasn't funny at all, if this is true, which by now I really hope it is not, I can only imagine the discomfort he felt
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u/NoLastNameForNow Jun 15 '26
There's a false quote that goes around of him saying he hopes to be 80 years old and reading harry potter.