Beloved British actor Alan Rickman was mourned by millions after he died from cancer on Thursday, but one of the most heartfelt tributes came from director Kevin Smith. Rickman, who lost his battle with cancer at age 69, starred in Smith’s 1999 comedy “Dogma” as Metatron, a.k.a. the Voice of God, garbed in a scruffy grey hoodie and angel wings. “One of my favorite people who ever lived has died,” Smith wrote in a Facebook tribute. “Alan was the first non-friend who signed up to the flick, but he became a great friend in record time.” Also Read: Alan Rickman, British Film Icon, Dies at 69 The “Clerks” and “Mallrats” creator posted a photo of Rickman holding up “the Ken doll his Dogma character’s lack of genitalia was modeled after.” “I’ll never forget his incredible dulcet tones guffawing at the rubber crotch makeup he was wearing: one of the greatest actors who ever lived, tickled by a cinematic lack of a dick,” Smith said. “Dogma,” which sparked attention due to its irreverent treatment of Catholicism, also starred Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock and Jason Lee.

Also Read: Alan Rickman Remembered: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson Mourn Their 'Harry Potter' Co-Star Smith also praised the former Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts student and Royal Shakespeare Company actor’s other famous film roles, including in “Die Hard” and the “Harry Potter” franchise. “I loved Hans Gruber the minute I saw ‪#‎DieHard‬ but I fell in love with the soft-spoken gentle soul who brought Gruber to life. Thank you for lending a hack like me your artistry and your credibility, Alan. You were never Snape to me as much as you were the adult Harry Potter himself: a bonafide wizard who could conjure absolute magic using merely words,” he wrote. “He was a HUGE cauldron of win, this man. I’ll miss him forever. Rest in Peace, Voice of God. Back to Heaven, where you came from …” Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016 (Photos) Earlier on Thursday, “Harry Potter” stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, along with author J.K. Rowling remembered their Hogwarts colleague in touching Twitter tributes

. See Smith’s full Facebook post — and that genitalia-less Ken doll photo — belowduck dynasty hoodies youth. One of my favorite people who ever lived has dieechosmith hoodiesd. The legendary #AlanRickman played Metatron, the Voice of God, in myshop bán áo gile nữ… Posted by Kevin Smith on Thursday, January 14, 201locksmith hoodies6 11 Brilliant Alan Rickman Roles (Photos) TheWrap looks back on some of our favorite film roles of the late British actor Hans Gruber--"Die Hard" (1988)Rickman lorded over Nakatomi Plaza in this action classic. Also Read: Alan Rickman, British Film Icon, Dead atAs directed, I rang the doorbell marked "WRPI" outside a basement entrance to the Darrin Communications Center.

It was a Thursday morning in early January, students were still on winter break and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus was deserted. A few moments later, a gangly fellow in flannel pajama bottoms and a gray and black Baja hoodie with the hood pulled over his head bounded up the steps. His size-13 feet were unshod. He shuffled past the college radio station's warren of rooms crammed with thousands of vinyl albums and turned into a soundproof studio. "Mind if I do my yoga warm-up?" he asked. He placed a small pillow on the floor next to a wall and stood on his head in silence. At 10 a.m., he pressed his scraggly gray beard close to the microphone and the last unreconstructed beatnik on local radio airwaves launched into a 15-minute, free-flowing monologue that is unlike anything else you can hear on the dial. "This here show is composed of myths, lies and mythologies, so if you're looking for newspeak and propaganda, you ain't likely to find it here," he said in a gravelly, sibilant whisper.

"He pontificates with a wacko banter from a misconnected mind and then makes ready to drop a hillbilly platter as he spits at the microphone, 'If it ain't vinyl, it ain't final.' He strummed a beat-up Yamaha acoustic guitar and held forth on quotidian experience with a hint of Allen Ginsberg's mysticism, a touch of Will Rogers' Everyman musings and a dash of Henny Youngmanesque puns. When he's on a roll, his breathless riffs are reminiscent of Arlo Guthrie's cult classic spoken-song, "Alice's Restaurant." He's a poet-philosopher of the working-class. He blends homespun humor and pointed observations on the foibles of modern life, told in third-person. "He knows he is an oddball DJ who is spreading his half-ass and far-out thoughts over the airwaves, like tangled up red, white and blue cosmic vibrations," he said. His radio handle is Harmando (rhymes with Katmandu), aka "The Hair Man." His morning show, "Progressive Brain Damage," has become a popular fixture on WRPI, 91.5 FM.

He got his start a decade ago on the progressive station's long-running HomoRadio, a program focused on LGBT issues. On the air he's talked about severe depression, long droughts in his bisexual love life and struggles with life's deep mysteries. He plumbs tough topics with a disarming cackle or piano riffs when he trades the six-string for a small keyboard. "Radio can be like a confessional," he said. "I try to tap into the energy in the universe and find the magic in everyday life." He's a 68-year-old unrepentant hippie who lives alone in the woods in a one-room schoolhouse on the outskirts of Rensselaerville. He drives a 1988 Dodge K-car with mileage in the deep six figures and a balky heater. He often dresses in a bulky wool Grateful Dead sweatshirt. "He suffers from the confluence of the right and left brain asymmetry fully mixed with heaping doses of tainted emotion drown in murky swamps of intellectualism, or more simply put, confusion interlaced with insecurity, he is a bump on the old log, a spitting doppelganger of his late dad, a man who drove himself mostly crazy attempting to make all the perfect choices at bargain basement fire sale prices

," he said, playing a guitar. His real name is Harry Carter. He grew up in Bloomfield, N.J. and overcame a learning disability that delayed his reading and writing. He studied liberal arts and painting at Tarkio College in Missouri and did graduate work in film studies at Harvard. He retired as a state Division for Youth counselor, but was mostly a free spirit who worked long enough to fund his next adventure: commercial salmon fisherman in the Pacific Northwest, roustabout in the oil fields of Texas, migrant strawberry picker in California, school teacher in Key West, Canadian Club whisky photo model, dishwasher in New Orleans, waiter in Provincetown. When he's not delivering a monologue, he's apt to quote Shakespeare between spinning a wildly eclectic playlist of vinyl records that can whipsaw from Glenn Miller to the Grateful Dead, from Charlie Parker to the Charlie Daniels Band. His weekend slots are shows focused on country and bluegrass music. "He's a one-of-a-kind character," said Chris Mercogliano, who played in a noontime pickup basketball game with Carter at the old Albany YMCA.