But he'd been a familiar face on British television since 1982, starting with his role as the Reverend Obadiah Slope in The Barchester Chronicles, and being bolstered by his part as Jamie in 1990's Truly, Madly, Deeply.
He achieved global fame in 1988 when he starred as Bruce Willis' adversary Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
He went on to play two more baddie roles - the sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Rasputin in a 1995 HBO film.
A directorial debut happened in 1995 when he directed Emma Thompson and her mother Phyllida Law in The Winter Guest.
He teamed up with Kate Winslet last year for period drama A Little Chaos, his second film as director.
He was born in Acton, London, in 1946, to working class parents.
After college, he worked as a graphic designer for a radical newspaper, and later opened a graphic design studio.
Three years later he contacted the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) to request an audition, and won a place.
He studied there between 1972 and 1974, and went on to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving on to television.
Despite an accomplished career - and a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a Bafta - he never won an Oscar.
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