Career: Willis started out on stage and had small parts in movies and on TV before landing a lead role in hit series Moonlighting in 1985. The show's success led to major film roles and a brief stint in music. In 1988 he scored a massive hit on the big screen with Die Hard. Other successes include Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. In 2001 he announced he was steering clear of violent roles, but relented and went on to star in Hostage, Sin City and 16 Blocks. He scored another major success with A Good Day to Die Hard, and always has several movies in the pipeline (a fifth Die Hard film is being developed). Other recent films include Moonrise Kingdom, Red 2 and Sin City: A Dame to Die For.

Career: After graduating from Rada, Rickman worked in repertory theatre. His big break came when he was nominated for a Tony Award in the Broadway production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. He was passed over for the film version, instead making his big screen debut in Die Hard as the villain Hans Gruber. He went on to play a wide variety of roles on the stage and on the big screen. His other film credits included Truly, Madly Deeply, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sense and Sensibility, the Harry Potter films, Love Actually and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Rickman also directed the movies A Little Chaos and The Winter Guest, and maintained a strong stage career. He died from cancer on January 14, 2016 at the age of 69.