![\"Terence](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/1_nPo_hWSAI61UAFYTNrRXrs5nE=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)\/Terence-Stamp-081725-a17b0c8e5a144ad2b80d278e8a0f3f6c.jpg\")
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Terence Stamp has died. He was 87.
\nThe actor’s family told Reuters he died on Sunday, Aug. 17.
\n“He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come,” they said in a statement to the outlet. “We ask for privacy at this sad time.”
\nA representative for Stamp did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Aug. 17.
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\nStamp received an Oscar nomination for 1962\u2019s Billy Budd. Known primarily for his roles as villains, he played General Zod in 1978\u2019s Superman and 1980\u2019s Superman II, and appeared in Wall Street, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and The Haunted Mansion, to name a few.
\nStamp was born in London in 1938. His father was in the Merchant Navy and spent much of Stamp\u2019s childhood away from the family. As a child, Stamp experienced the World War II bombing of London.
\n\u201cThe first film I ever saw was called Beau Geste, with Gary Cooper,\u201d he told BFI in 2013. \u201cMy mother took me to see that. I was probably under four years old. It was Cooper playing a soldier in the Foreign Legion. I didn\u2019t realize the impact, but it made an indelible impression on me.\u201d
\nHe kept his acting aspirations private. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until we got our first TV \u2014 I would\u2019ve been about 17 I think, and I was already at work \u2014 that I started saying things like, \u2018Oh, I could do that,\u2019\u201d he told BFI. \u201cMy dad just turned me off it. He was probably trying to save me a lot of aggro. He genuinely believed that people like us didn\u2019t do things like that.\u201d
\nStamp\u2019s dreams endured. He won a scholarship to study at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and was soon performing in repertory theater. He became friends with fellow young actors Michael Caine and Peter O’Toole.
\nHis film debut was in 1962\u2019s Billy Budd, in which he played the title role. He received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor and won the Golden Globe for most promising male newcomer.<\/p>\n
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He told NPR in 2002 that Caine, who was his roommate, helped him learn some of the basics of film acting before he got to set, and once the cameras rolled he felt at home. \u201cWhen I started the movie, a kind of amazing thing happened because I just discovered that \u2014 it was like I knew it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was as though it was absolutely second nature to me. Everything I saw that was new, I understood almost instantaneously.\u201d
\nStamp became associated with the Swinging London scene of the \u201860s. Roles for him during that time included 1966\u2019s Modesty Blaise and 1967\u2019s Far from the Madding Crowd with Julie Christie (whom he also dated).
\nBut as the decade ended, his work dried up. \u201cIt\u2019s a mystery to me,\u201d he told The Guardian in 2015. \u201cI was in my prime. When the 1960s ended, I just ended with it. I remember my agent telling me: \u2018They are all looking for a young Terence Stamp.\u2019 And I thought: \u2018I am young.\u2019 I was 31, 32. I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d He left London and spent most of the decade traveling until, while in India, he got a telegram offering him a role opposite Christopher Reeve in 1978\u2019s Superman.
\n\u201cDuring that time away from the screen, I had transmuted myself,\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cI no longer saw myself as a leading man. What had happened inside of me enabled me to take the role and not feel embarrassed or depressed about playing the villain. I just decided I was a character actor now and I can do anything.\u201d He also returned for 1980\u2019s Superman II.
\nStamp starred in 1984\u2019s The Hit, which was his first starring role in over a decade. In 1991, he won the Silver Bear for best actor at the Berlin International Film Festival for his work in Beltenebros.
\nIn 1994, he once again got to break out of the villain box in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. In it, he played a trans woman named Bernadette who travels on a road trip with drag queens played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce. Stamp received widespread acclaim for his performance and was nominated for best actor at both the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
\n”Cross-dressing has been around at least since Shakespeare,” Stamp told PEOPLE in 1994. ”It would be nice if greater androgyny were the next big social development. It would make relationships easier.” He told PEOPLE he was particularly excited for audiences to see him in a major role. ”I’m sure Hollywood will say, ‘We knew he was a great villain; now we know he’s got great legs.’ I live in hope,\u201d he joked.
\nStamp told BFI in 2013 that he was afraid to say yes to the project but was encouraged by a friend to do it. \u201cIt was only when I got there, and got through the fear, that it became one of the great experiences of my whole career,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was probably the most fun thing I\u2019ve ever done in my life.\u201d In 2024, it was announced that the Priscilla cast would be reuniting for a sequel.
\nStamp appeared in 1999\u2019s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but he told Empire Magazine in 2013, he felt director George Lucas was more focused on visual effects than actors, and he decided not to return for the trilogy\u2019s other installments.
\nHis other screen credits included 2005\u2019s Elektra, 2008\u2019s Get Smart and Valkyrie, 2011\u2019s The Adjustment Bureau, the 2019 Adam Sandler film Murder Mystery and 2021\u2019s Last Night in Soho.
\nStamp only made a handful of TV appearances; they included a role as Jor-El, Superman\u2019s biological father, on the series Smallville. Stamp\u2019s Jor-El only appeared as a disembodied voice.
\nStamp married Elizabeth O’Rourke in 2002. She was 29; he was 64. They divorced in 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Terence Stamp has died. He was 87. The actor’s family told Reuters he died on Sunday, Aug. 17. “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34444,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34442\/revisions\/34444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}