The British actor, known as the world’s most loved villain, has died aged 69 after battling cancer.

The venerated British actor, Alan Rickman, has died, aged 69. His death was confirmed by his family earlier today. He had been battling cancer.

Rickman was one of the most recognised and revered film and stage actors of his generation, featuring in blockbuster hits and theatre triumphs. Roles in some of cinema’s most cherished films won him generations of fans, and in particular his vigour for playing villains was unmatched. In 1988 he shot to global attention as he clashed with Bruce Willis as German terrorist Hans Gruber in the cult hit Die Hard, in 1991 he was the foil for Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, as the repugnant yet irresistible Sheriff of Nottingham; in 1995 he appeared as the Tsar’s svengali, Rasputin, in an HBO film, and in 2001 he premiered one of his most popular roles, that of Professor Snape in the Harry Potter franchise.

Yet his capacity for tenderness and pathos as an actor was equally titanic. His leading role opposite Juliet Stevenson in Anthony Minghella’s heartbreaking and tear-jerking romance, Truly, Madly, Deeply, is cemented as one of the most affecting performances in modern cinema. He would take a less flattering role in a romantic comedy in 2003’s Love, Actually, as the philandering husband of Emma Thompson.

He was also a directorial talent, with an insight for sensitively observed, close quarters drama over blockbuster excesses. In 1995 he directed Thompson and her mother, Phyllida Law, in his debut as a director, The Winter Guest, and more recently, in 2014, directed Kate Winslet in A Little Chaos, a period romance set in the gardens of Versailles.

Outside of his film triumphs, Rickman was an astonishing stage actor. After his graduation from RADA, he worked from the bottom up, as a backstage hand in London theatres before securing a place in the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his stage career, which he would continually revisit even beyond his breakthrough into Hollywood, he would be noted for his crafted, beautifully realised performances.

His work as an actor with global celebrity was never inert; Rickman was impelled by a spirit of activism. In 2005, he directed the award winning play My Name is Rachel Corrie, which he and Katharine Viner, now Guardian editor-in-chief, compiled from the emails of a student who was killed by a bulldozer whilst protesting the actions of the Israel Defense Force in the Gaza Strip. This potent political awareness was an ever present force in Rickman’s life.

Born a “card-carrying member of the Labour party,” he was highly involved with philanthropy and in promoting emerging actors. Among the charities he supported were Saving Faces and the International Performers’ Aid Trust which supports emerging artists from poor backgrounds.

Rickman is one of the most lauded actors to have never won an Oscar, despite winning a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a BAFTA, which may in part be due to him being so regularly cast as a “baddie”. In his own words from 2008, “parts win prizes, not actors.” Despite this omission, Rickman will be remembered as one of the greatest actors of his generation, as a cult figure, and also a rare and acclaimed talent.