Terence Stamp, the renowned English star of international masterpieces like Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema and Federico Fellini’s Toby Dammit and the memorable villain of two Superman films, has died. He was 87.
Stamp died Sunday morning, according to a family statement provided to Reuters. The cause was not reported.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Stamp.
The eldest of five children, Terence Henry Stamp was born on July 22, 1938, in the Stepney borough of London’s East End. The son of a tugboat crewman and later merchant Navyman, Stamp worked in his teens as an electrician in a West End theater, later winning a scholarship to undergo classical training at London’s prestigious Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
He appeared in several stage productions before landing his debut role in Peter Ustinov’s Billy Budd. The 1962 adaptation of Herman Melville’s sexually charged novella, which costarred Robert Ryan and Melvyn Douglas, earned a 24-year-old Stamp his first Academy Award nomination.
Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection.
Immediately following Billy Budd, Stamp starred opposite Laurence Olivier and Simone Signoret in the academic drama Term of Trial, and then won the Best Actor award at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival for his starring role in William Wyler’s psychological horror film The Collector.
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Throughout his career, Stamp continued working with acclaimed auteurs like Pier Paolo Pasolini (Teorema) and Federico Fellini (“Toby Dammit”), but never shied away from commercial fare. He won a massive new fanbase for his spirited performances as General Zod, the primary antagonist in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman and its sequel, 1980’s Superman II.
Stamp received accolades for his starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 crime film The Limey and played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace the same year. In recent years, the veteran star appeared in films like Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, the Matt Damon- and Emily Blunt-starring sci-fi thriller The Adjustment Bureau, and 2021’s Last Night at Soho, which would be his final film role.
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