Who was the best casting choice among Harry Potter adult actors?

Alan Rickman IS Prof. Snape.
Maggie Smith is wonderful and I miss Richard Harris as Dumbledore. But Alan Rickman still gets my vote.

 

They did a very good job of casting all the adults (with the exception of Gambon), but Alan Rickman's Snape is EXACTLY like I imagined he'd be.

 

I think that's more of an explanation of why Coltrane's performance has been overlooked as late. The more I think of it, his performance is every good as Rickman's, but the latter gets the benefit of playing the more interesting character.

 

I like Coltrane as Hagrid. He gets my vote because he's the only person I can see playing his character. I can think of other people for the other characters, but Coltrane is perfect for Hagrid, IMHO.

 

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape...

Alan Rickman is, honestly, amazing. I think he portrays Snape with extreme accuracy and he is a terrific actor and my favourite out of all the HP adult actors.

Robbie Coltrane, too, was perfect for Hagrid and if I could have two votes, I'd vote for him as well.

 

Sir Micheal Gambon is a great actor/performer, but Richard Harris does Dumbledor better, I think that Ian Mickellen would have been a good replacement because they have that kind voice.

 

Alan Rickman

 

Alan Rickman, although Jason Isaacs is a close second.

 

I have to imagine they considered McKlellan, but if they had hired him, the risk would have been Dumbledore becoming Gandalf, a comparable but different character.