Alan Rickman’s Archive Up for Auction, Including a Letter Revealing His Frustration with Playing Snape in Harry Potter

A collection of documents from the late Alan Rickman’s personal archive will be up for auction in London. A total of 38 boxes of materials consisting of correspondences, fan mails, interview excerpts and the actor’s personal diaries are expected to fetch about £950,000 (US$1.25m), including a letter showing his frustration playing the character Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman’s diary


Alan Rickman died in 2016 after a battle with cancer. He was known for playing a variety of roles on stage and on screen, including Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Harry in Love Actually and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series.

Alan Rickman’s working script for Die Hard

Prince Charles is a fan of Alan Rickman


The archive also includes personal letters from celebrities including Prince Charles, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

 A card from Daniel Radcliffe

A card from Nicole Kidman

2006 Christmas card from JK Rowling: 'Just completed *the* Snape chapter. It is so very strange, finishing...'


One of he most noteworthy items for sale is a letter showing the actor's frustration with playing the character Snape in Harry Potter series. In a letter from David Heyman, the producer of the Harry Potter movies, it reads “Thank you for making HP2 a success. I know, at times, you are frustrated but please know that you are an integral part of the films. And you are brilliant.”


The note titled ‘Inside Snape’s Head’ also revealed the late Alan Rickman was frustrated with the lack of attention given to Snape’s character and the development thereof. It was written by Rickman when he was filming The Half-Blood Prince, “It’s as if David Yates has decided that this is not important in the scheme of things i.e. teen audience appeal.”