Terence Stamp, who perhaps most famously starred as General Zod in “Superman” and “Superman II,” died Sunday morning. He was 87.
Stamp’s death was confirmed by his family. “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,” the family said in a statement. “We ask for privacy at this sad time.”
Stamp was initially interested in pursuing a career in advertising, but landed a scholarship for a drama school instead. He made his cinematic debut in 1962’s “Billy Budd.”
The decade was an especially iconic span of time for Stamp, who was one-half of a golden couple alongside Julie Christie and also starred in “Far From The Madding Crowd” and “The Collector.” But he left performing at the end of the decade without knowing if he would ever return.
Eventually, Stamp made his way back to acting years later. In addition to “Superman,” he found roles in “Wall Street,” “The Hit,” “Star Wars: Episode I,” “Red Planet,” “Bowfinger” and others.
Stamp reflected on “Billy Budd” while speaking to NPR’s Terry Gross in 2021. At the time he and Michael Caine — just “two young, out-of-work actors” — were roommates. “And although Michael Caine wasn’t known – you know, he hadn’t been just discovered; he was absolutely unknown – he did know a lot about the technicalities of filming. And so he kind of versed me in those, so I knew the technicalities and felt confident in that,” Stamp said.
You know, I knew how to hit marks. I knew about sort of camera angles. I knew about lenses. And frankly, when I started the movie, a kind of amazing thing happened because I just discovered that – it was like I knew it. It was as though it was absolutely second nature to me.”
Stamp earned an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for his performance.
Terence Stamp was born in 1938 in Stepney, London. He very nearly played James Bond after Sean Connery died but ultimately believed his thoughts about how the role should be performed didn’t match those of producer Harry Saltzman’s.
In addition to working as an actor, Stamp was also the author of three memoirs, a novel, and a cookbook.
He married for the first time in 2002 when he wed Elizabeth O’Rourke, who was 29 at the time. The pair divorced in 2008.
