Acting luminaries from across the world took to social media to celebrate the life of the actor who died yesterday.

Alan Rickman, who tragically lost his battle to cancer yesterday aged 69, was one of the most respected and acclaimed luminaries of the acting world. In the wake of the news of his death, many of his friends and colleagues – the actors he appeared opposite during his career – have paid tribute to his memory.

One of his most regular on-screen collaborators, Emma Thompson, offered a heartbreaking statement, saying: “Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye. What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word.”

Thompson co-starred with Rickman many times, including the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility, in Rickman’s directorial debut The Winter Guest in 1997, and the romantic-comedy hit Love Actually in 2003.

Rickman with Emma Thompson in 1990

Thompson’s statement continued, “The intransigence which made him the great artist he was...