Google Doodle celebrates Harry Potter star Alan Rickman, fans react ‘Always’

Harry Potter fans woke up to a pleasant surprise from Google on Sunday morning. The search engine paid tribute to British actor Alan Rickman with a beautiful Google Doodle. Fans took to social media to share it and remember the late beloved actor.

Alan Rickman was known for playing the feared and misunderstood Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies, vengeful villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard, gentlemanly Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, and even voiced Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

On this day in 1987, Alan Rickman performed in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a Broadway play that was instrumental in launching his career. He played the anti-hero Le Vicomte de Valmont in it and even received a Tony. He also won a Golden Globe and an Emmy during his career and despite his reputation for playing the “baddie”, he was also acclaimed for more sensitive roles in films such as Truly Madly Deeply, and Love, Actually.

His exceptional portrayal of Professor Snape made him famous across the world. Every Harry Potter fan was heartbroken when Alan died of pancreatic cancer in 2016. Many used his line ‘always’ from the films as a tribute to the actor.

Alan Rickman in 2011 had also told HitFix that Harry Potter writer JK Rowling had given him ‘one tiny, left-of-field piece of information’ about Snape. He said, “It helped me think that he was more complicated and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought. If you remember when I did the first film she’d only written three or four books, so nobody knew where it was really going except her. And it was important for her that I know something, but she only gave me a tiny piece of information which helped me think it was a more ambiguous route.” When asked what the tiny info was, she said, “I told Alan what lies behind the word ‘always’.”

Even on Sunday, fans shared pictures of the doodle on social media and mentioned how they will remember him ‘always’. “Google doodle in onore di Alan Rickman. Always,” wrote a fan. “Nice to see Alan Rickman being remembered by Google today,” wrote another. Others shared movie recommendations for Alan fans. “Since Google is Celebrating Alan Rickman. Let’s just say If you haven’t watched Dogma, please watch it! Alan Rickman was amazing in it,” read a tweet. A fan also raised awareness for pancreatic cancer. “Google is celebrating the wonderful Alan Rickman today. Honour him by not letting your loved ones die way to young,” they wrote.