Actor Terence Stamp dies at the age of 87

At the age of 87, Terence Stamp, an English actor who portrayed General Zod, the arch-villain in the first Superman movies, passed away. The Oscar-nominated actor acted in movies such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Far From the Madding Crowd, and Valkyrie throughout the course of a six-decade career.

According to his family’s statement to the Reuters news agency, Stamp passed away early on Sunday.

“He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and a writer, that will continue to touch people for years to come,” they said.

Stamp was “saddened” to learn of his passing, according to Bafta, which also cited his two nominations in 1963 and 1995.

“Beyond gorgeous and talented” is how his co-star Sarah Douglas characterized him in Superman.

She said, “So saddened to learn that Terence has left us,” on Instagram.

“He taught me a great deal. It was a great beginning to my career to work for his firm for so many months.

“To everyone who loved him, my deepest sympathies and affection are sent. What a loss.

Stamp, who was born on July 22, 1938, to working-class parents in Stepney, east London, went to grammar school before deciding to pursue a career in advertising.

He became well-known in the 1960s after receiving a scholarship to theater school. He made his acting debut in the 1962 movie Billy Budd, which was about an unsuspecting young fisherman in the 18th century.

He received a Golden Globe for best newcomer and an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his work.

His notable roles as General Zod in Superman and Superman II, kidnapper Freddie Clegg in The Collector, and Sergeant Troy in Far From the Madding Crowd helped him establish himself as a villain.

Stamp was well-known in the 1960s for his attractiveness, sense of style, and high-profile girlfriends, such as supermodel Jean Shrimpton and actress Julie Christie, with whom he subsequently costarred in Far From the Madding Crowd.

The Kinks’ lyric “Terry meets Julie” from the song Waterloo Sunset, which is thought to be a reference to the couple, immortalized his brief one-year romance with Christie.

When Sean Connery gave up his role as James Bond, Stamp was asked to take over, but he said that producer Harry Saltzman was turned off by his extreme interpretation of the character.

“I think my ideas about it put the frighteners on Harry,” he said. “I didn’t get a second call from him.”

When he returned to London at the end of the 1960s, he discovered that his fame had diminished despite spending some time in Italy working with filmmakers Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

He subsequently said on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, “I think because I’d been so identified with it, I kind of ended as well” when the 1960s came to an end.

“I believed that everything would be resolved if I could be attractive, successful, and well-known. I thought, “It’s been a lot of fun, but there hasn’t been any real, deep internal satisfaction,” as it all kind of came to a close.

After purchasing a ticket to see the globe, he temporarily left acting to study yoga and stay at a spiritual retreat in India.

Stamp said that he was “distraught” even though he called the decision “epic.”

When he told Desert Island Discs, “I never imagined this would happen,” and “I always thought after six months or so some great part would come up and nothing did.”

When he was handed his most prominent part as General Zod in the first Superman movie in 1976, that chance finally came.

In the decades that followed, he had several cinematic cameos, including Wall Street, The Adjustment Bureau, A Song for Marion, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and Last Night in Soho.

“The films I passed on because I was afraid are my only regrets,” he told Desert Island Discs. He stated that he would “like to have them in my canon” after mentioning Camelot and Romeo and Juliet with Audrey Hepburn.

His portrayal of a transgender woman in the Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994 was one of his most well-known and acclaimed roles, and it earned him nods for both the BAFTA and Golden Globes.

Last year, filmmaker Stephan Elliott stated that Stamp was on set to return for a Priscilla sequel.

The “fittest man I’ve ever met in my life,” who “has never drunk and basically eats grass,” was Stamp, who was 85 at the time, according to Elliott.

He told The Guardian that “it took him a long time to think about it till he got there,” but that at last he told me, “You know what? You’re correct. We’re far from done. The tale has not been told.