I wish my husband, Alan Rickman, were still alive to see this cancer test — Rima Horton
English re-translation of Alan Rickman Vietnam Fanpage
Horton, 78, first met Rickman 60 years ago at the Brook Youth Theatre group in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, when he was 19 and she was 18. Her first impression of him was that “he was an exceptionally good actor,” she said. “He stood out even when he was very young; he was always on another level.”
It was a remarkable career, but Horton feels it was cut short. In January 2016, aged 69, Rickman died in hospital a few months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “It was a terrible shock; we had no idea,” Horton said of the diagnosis.
In June 2015, the couple were in Los Angeles while Rickman was promoting the period film A Little Chaos when he noticed “a very uncomfortable pain in his leg,” Horton said. They thought it might be deep vein thrombosis and went to see a phlebotomist, who discovered a small blood clot and, worried it might be something more serious, advised Rickman to see a doctor as soon as they returned home. “That led to the scans and the discovery of the cancer,” Horton said.
“At first, we told no one except family. Alan didn’t want people to look at him and say, ‘Oh, how sad,’” Horton said. They were not explicitly told it was terminal, but “we knew it was fully developed and had spread. I didn’t Google anything — I didn’t want to know — but we knew what that meant.” Rickman underwent chemotherapy, and Horton believes it helped him live about three months longer than expected. “We knew the chemotherapy wouldn’t work, but you still live in hope,” she said. “You tell yourself, maybe we’ll be the exception.”
Rickman and Horton were friends for a decade before beginning a romantic relationship and did not marry until 2012, in a private, simple ceremony in New York. They had no children, because they “didn’t want them and it would have been difficult with both our careers. Neither of us felt a strong urge; I don’t regret it,” Horton said. She was formerly a senior lecturer in economics at Kingston University and a Labour councillor in Kensington & Chelsea from 1986 to 2006.
Horton still watches Rickman’s films. Her favourites are Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) and Galaxy Quest (1999). She believes he was proudest of the political play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, which Rickman co-produced with Katharine Viner (now editor of The Guardian) and directed at the Royal Court Theatre. The play is based on the diaries and emails of activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli soldier aged 23. “He took everything he did extremely seriously,” Horton said. “He couldn’t do any job without giving it everything he had.”
To mark the anniversary of his death this month, Horton is organising a raffle of a signed Harry Potter book, autographed by cast members including Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Rupert Grint. “Snape is a wonderful character, and Harry Potter was a significant part of Alan’s life,” she said.
In 2021, Horton became a trustee of Pancreatic Cancer UK. The money raised by the raffle will go towards developing a breath test currently being trialled at Imperial College.
Horton does not dwell on “what ifs”, but feels “immensely sad that he could have given so much more,” she said. She believes the one role her husband never had the chance to play was King Lear. Her fondest memories are not of premieres or parties, but of “those early days in Manchester and Leicester, when Alan was playing small roles in touring productions. I remember that time with enormous affection. He was always with me. He came with me everywhere, all the time.”
Credits & sources
Source: Vietnamese translation shared by Alan Rickman Vietnam Fanpage (Facebook fan page) Original article: The Times (full text behind paywall) English re-translation: mine Images: via Alan Rickman Vietnam Fanpage (not necessarily the same images used in the original article)
