Terence Stamp, iconic British actor of the 1960s and memorable Superman star, has died at 87

Terence Stamp, the British screen idol celebrated for his acclaimed turn as the menacing villain in the early Superman films and his breakout role in Billy Budd, passed away on Sunday at the age of 87.

His representative confirmed the news to NPR but did not reveal a cause of death.

In a statement, Stamp’s family said, “He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy, not only through his work as an actor but also as a writer, continuing to inspire and move audiences for generations to come.”

A defining figure of the Swinging Sixties, Stamp was admired for both his striking looks and his remarkable versatility, inhabiting roles that ranged from earnest sailors to dark, tormented villains. The Guardian once hailed him as the “master of brooding silence,” though Stamp avoided being confined to one mold, choosing instead to embrace bold roles that showcased the full breadth of his talent.
In The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, he portrayed a transgender woman on a cross-country journey. Reviewing the 1994 release, critic Roger Ebert noted that while Stamp’s appearance in drag was initially surprising, he ultimately delivered a profoundly human and authentic performance.

Reflecting on his role as a drag queen, Stamp admitted, “I was terrified it was completely outside anything I’d ever done. But one afternoon over tea with a fellow actress, a sage woman, she glanced through my script and told me I should take it on.

The film went on to earn $16 million at the Australian box office, won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and cemented its place as one of the country’s most iconic films of its era.

Stamp was born in East London to a tugboat worker father and a homemaker mother. He often reflected that his working-class roots made him stand out in the acting world, which performers from wealthier backgrounds then dominated.

Before pursuing theater in England, despite discouragement from both his father and school advisors, he tried his hand at other jobs, including advertising and hospital work.

“In school, when I asked for career advice, they suggested bricklaying as a steady, respectable profession,” he recalled in a 2011 interview with the Sunday Business Post.
Stamp once shared that after his father returned from World War II, he became “very emotionally shut off.” He credited his mother, however, for nurturing his passion for acting, recalling in his memoir that she was a devoted “lifelong movie lover” who encouraged his dreams.

At just 24, Stamp secured his breakthrough role in Billy Budd, an adaptation of Herman Melville’s novel. Critics praised him for his “slender, boyish frame and the face of a Botticelli angel,” which made him an ideal choice to play the young sailor. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

Although he enjoyed a strong run through the 1960s, his career stalled, and in 1969, he retreated to an ashram in India following a romantic split. He became a swami, though he later admitted the deeper reason was his struggle to find work in film.

“I was 32, at the height of my powers, but producers only wanted a younger version of me. It was humiliating,” he recalled in an interview with The Business Post.

Everything shifted when a telegram reached him at a hotel in India, inviting him back to London to join the Superman films. The note ended with the line: “YOU HAVE SCENES WITH MARLON BRANDO.”

Over his career, Stamp appeared in more than 60 films, ranging from arthouse projects to major studio blockbusters. Yet his most iconic role remains that of General Zod, the formidable alien antagonist in the early Superman movies.

In his memoir The Ocean Fell into the Drop, Stamp reflected on how deeply inspired he was as a child by watching Cary Grant in the 1947 holiday classic The Bishop’s Wife.

“When I learned he’d been born Archie Leach, a working-class boy from Bristol, it struck me in a way that’s hard to describe,” Stamp wrote. “From then on, I couldn’t stop watching television.”