Terence Stamp

English actor, a brooding, handsome lead and later supporting player in British and international films, known for his sophisticated villain roles. He played archvillain General Zod in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), and Bernadette Bassenger, a transgender woman in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). He received various accolades including a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and a Silver Bear as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two BAFTA Awards. He was named by Empire as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995.

The son of a cockney tugboat master, he began his theatrical career on stage. In 1969, at the height of his success, bored by fame and unhappy, he aborted a love affair with model Jean Shrimpton and went on a five-year pilgrimage to India. He returned to England at times to do a film.

He made a film debut in Billy Budd (1962), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer. In the late '70s, he moved into character roles, and made his debut as a director in 1991 with Stranger in the House.

He published three volumes of his memoirs including Stamp Album (written in tribute to his late mother), a novel entitled The Night, and a cookbook co-written with Elizabeth Buxton to provide alternative recipes for those who are wheat- and lactose-intolerant.

On 31 December 2002 in London, aged 64, he married his girlfriend of the last five years. They met in 1997 when he was 59 and she was 18. The couple divorced on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour" in April 2008.

Terence Stamp died on 17 August 2025 at the age of 87.