Terence Stamp, the British actor who often portrayed complex villains, including General Zod in the early Superman films, has died. He was 87.
His death on Sunday was disclosed in a death notice published online.
The London-born Stamp started his film career with 1962’s seafaring Billy Budd, for which he earned an Oscar nomination.
Stamp’s six decades in the business were peppered with highlights, including his portrayal of Bernadette, a trans woman, in 1994’s The Adventure of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
“Fairwell dear Tel. You were a true inspiration, both in and out of heels,” Priscilla co-star Guy Pearce said in a social media post.
Stamp was also widely praised for his lead in director Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 crime drama The Limey.
But it’s his portrayal of the bearded Zod in 1978’s Superman, and its sequel Superman II two years later, that most people associate with Stamp. As the Kryptonian archenemy to Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel, Stamp introduced a darker and charming — more human — element to the franchise, one that’s been replicated in countless superhero movies ever since.
‘Endlessly fascinating’
Edgar Wright, who directed Stamp in his final feature film, 2021’s Last Night in Soho, remembered the actor in an Instagram post as “kind, funny and endlessly fascinating.”
“The closer the camera moved, the more hypnotic his presence became. In close-up, his unblinking gaze locked in so powerfully that the effect was extraordinary. Terence was a true movie star: the camera loved him, and he loved it right back,” Wright said.
Stamp started his acting career on stage in the late 1950s, where he acted in repertory theatre and met Michael Caine, who was five years older than himself. The pair lived together in a flat in central London while looking for their big break.
George interviews Terence Stamp; Ian D’Sa & Cone McCaslin. Guest Panelist is Eman El-Husseini.
Stamp started out his film career in the early 1960s as part of the “angry young men” movement that was introducing an element of social realism into British filmmaking.
That was perhaps most notable in the 1965 adaptation of John Fowles’s creepy debut novel The Collector, where he played the awkward and lonely Freddie Clegg, who kidnapped Samantha Eggar’s Miranda Grey in a warped attempt to win her love. It was a performance that would earn the young Stamp, fresh off his Oscar nomination for Billy Budd, the best actor award at 1965’s Cannes Film Festival.
Career dip before Zod
While part of that 1960s British movement, Stamp learned from some of the most seasoned actors from the classical era, including Laurence Olivier.
“I worked with Olivier briefly on my second movie (1962’s Term of Trial),” Stamp recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2013. “And he said to me, ‘You should always study your voice.'” Stamp then segued into a spot-on Olivier impersonation, continuing, “‘Because, as you get older, your looks go, but your voice will become empowered.'”
His career took a bit of a hiatus from the late 1960s, after he missed out on the role of James Bond to replace Sean Connery; that included a years-long stint in India, which saw him embrace a more holistic approach to his self.
It was the unexpected role of General Zod that brought him back to the limelight. He played John Tunstall in 1988’s Young Guns, the Galactic Republic leader in 1999’s Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, appeared in the comedies Yes Man and Get Smart, and delivered voice performances in the video games Halo 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Born in London’s East End on July 22, 1938, Stamp lived a colourful life, particularly during the 1960s when he had a string of romances, including with actress Julie Christie and model Jean Shrimpton. He married 29-year-old Elizabeth O’Rourke in 2002 at the age of 64 but the couple divorced six years later. Stamp did not have any children.
He generally sought to keep his standards high — but up to a point.
“I don’t do crappy movies, unless I haven’t got the rent,” he said.