The British actor Alan Rickman, who sadly died earlier this week, will stay etched in our memories as the scheming Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. But Rickman did not start out as an actor, having attended Chelsea Art School followed by the Royal College of Art in London in the late 1960s where he was a postgraduate design student. The design blog, It’s Nice That, has uncovered two issues of the RCA journal Ark—now called Arc—on which Rickman worked as copy editor (issues #45 and #46 in 1969 and 1970). The late film and theatre legend wrote articles for each issue, including an interview with the theatre director Jim Haynes and a piece called Child’s Play, when he described his experiences as supervisor of a children’s playground. “I have an art background, I see everything in pictures,” said Rickman in an interview with the BBC last year, highlighting his extraordinary take on life.
Paul Thompson, the rector of the RCA, says that the college is "saddened to hear of the passing of one of our most distinguished former students. During his time at the RCA he featured heavily in the life of the college. Alan's career took him on to become a celebrated actor, I know that he valued his time at the RCA, saying: ‘Being at the RCA was like walking across a necessary bridge to the rest of my working life.'"