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Gary Oldman recalled Alan Rickman frequently bringing children to tour the Harry Potter sets during filming at an appearance at TIFF on Sept. 9
Rickman shared his excitement for the magical world by inviting kids from schools, hospitals and friends’ families into the immersive world of the films
Rickman’s widow recently honored his legacy by supporting a charity for pancreatic cancer research in his memory in January, a decade after he died from the disease in 2016
Gary Oldman is reflecting on his magical memories with his late Harry Potter costar Alan Rickman.
Oldman, 68, who played Sirius Black in the film franchise, spoke about his bond with Rickman on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Rickman played the beloved anti-hero Professor Severus Snape at the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
“Alan was kind of like the cheerleader of it. He was into it, he was doing it, so he was with it and committed to it,” the Slow Horses actor said when addressing a crowd at TIFF, per Entertainment Weekly.
Oldman recalled Rickman, who died at 69 of pancreatic cancer in 2016, often brought children to visit the set and watch the actors film their scenes during the making of the Harry Potter films.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape
Credit: Murray Close/Warner Bros.
“He would bring them in from a school, he’d bring them in from the hospital, he’d bring friends and their kids in every single day for lunchtimes and things,” Oldman shared. “He’d take kids around to tour the sets, and we’d meet them.”
Oldman said the late actor “thought that was the most extraordinary thing, that he was in this world that he got to be in, come in every day, and that he knew how much it meant to these kids. So, he wanted to share it.”
Following Rickman’s death, Daniel Radcliffe, who appeared as the titular Harry Potter in the films, called him “one of the greatest actors I will ever work with” and “one of the loyalest and most supportive people I’ve ever met in the film industry.”
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In January, Rickman’s widow, Rima Horton, reflected on her husband’s legacy on the 10-year anniversary of his death.
Gary Oldman and Daniel Radcliffe standing side by side in a dramatic scene from a movie
Credit: Murray Close/ Getty
Horton, 79, appeared on BBC Breakfast on Jan. 27 to promote a charity prize drawing to raise funding for Pancreatic Cancer UK in his honor.
“He had so much more to give. There were so many more things he could have done,” she shared on the broadcast, per The Independent.
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