Oscar nominee, character actor extraordinaire, and one of the most multi-faceted actors of his generation, the British star Terence Stamp died on Sunday at the age of 87. The news was first reported by the New York Times, which shared that the actor’s family had “confirmed his death but did not specify where he died or the cause.”
Born in July 22, 1938, in London, one of five children of Thomas Stamp and Ethel (Perrott) Stamp, the idea of growing up to become a movie star could not have been further from Stamp’s mind or early experience. Initially, young Stamp worked in advertising, but he had long harbored dreams of acting, and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
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His first major role in “Billy Budd” earned him his first and only Oscar nomination, but it also set his career on fire. Early success, including acclaim for his piercing blue eyes and iconic voice, notched him work with everyone from Federico Fellini to Marlon Brando, but his career seemingly fell off as he approached his thirties.
His casting as General Zod in the first two “Superman” films of the ’70s has long been viewed as his great comeback, but over the following decades, he continued to make compelling, often off-beat choices. Those included starring in “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” as a transgender woman with unexpected tenderness and bringing his unique zeal to Steven Soderbergh’s “The Limey.” Always wonderful, always unpredictable.
In 2013, the actor reflected on the ups and downs of his career with IndieWire. At the time, he was returning to the big screen with a lead role in “Unfinished Song.” “I’ve just grown used to doing roles that are tough guys, and it hasn’t really made any difference to my life,” he said. “I guess in the big trajectory of things, I was out of work for most of the ‘70s and I just traveled. I got to the point where I just thought I was never going to get the call. But I did.”
Stamp looked back on the career- and life-changing calls behind his work in the “Superman” films, telling IndieWire, “I got recalled to do the first two ‘Superman’ movies, that I think are the very best of all those comic book movies. But during that leave of absence, I guess I changed, like emotionally, I was changed from a leading man to a character actor. In a way it was very painful at the time, but it’s proven to be a blessing in disguise. The reason that I’ve had such a long career is because I’m up for anything. I’m sort of fearless at this point in my life. So even when I did General Zod, can you really imagine Robert Redford or Warren Beatty playing General Zod? I was of a similar ilk.”
He continued, “Initially I never really understood why I couldn’t get a lead part after ’69. My own understanding of it was that I was so identified with the ‘60s period, that when it ended, the word on the street was, ‘Well, we’re looking for a young Terence Stamp,’ and I was in my thirties. The fundamental change was in Terence. So by the time Zod came up, I was really hungry to work. I guess that’s why it became such a landmark role for me. There was nearly eight years of storing up energy being ready to let loose on the set of the ‘Superman’ movies.”
He was nominated for two BAFTAs, two Golden Globes, and won Cannes’ Best Actor award in 1965 for his work in William Wyler’s “The Collector.” He last appeared on-screen in 2021, care of a small but notable role in Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho.”
The NYT notes that in “2002, at age 64, he married Elizabeth O’Rourke, a 29-year-old Australian pharmacist; they divorced in 2008.” The NYT reported that “information on survivors was not immediately available.”
