This actor...

The late Alan Rickman was easily one of my favourite actors. There was never a role in which, in my opinion, he was not utterly spellbinding and brilliant.

I loved the versatility with which he played such diverse characters, from the Sheriff of Nottingham to Colonel Brandon to Professor Snape, each time encapsulating a completely new, plausible and memorable entity.

As is the case with many famous film stars he had training in the Alexander technique. He once said, 'With the best intentions, the job of acting can become a display of accumulated bad habits, trapped instincts and blocked energies. Working with the Alexander Technique has given me sightings of another way... Mind and body, work and life together. Real imaginative freedom...'