Terence Stamp Dies: Superman's General Zod Was 87

Actor Terence Stamp has died at age 87, his family announced Sunday. Stamp may be best known to IGN readers for his roles as General Zod in 1978’s Superman and Superman II and as Supreme Chancellor Valorum in ​Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

"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. "We ask for privacy at this sad time,” Stamp’s family said in a statement to Reuters.

Born in 1938 in Stepney, London, England, Stamp began his career in the theater and was even roommates with Michael Caine for a time before making his film debut playing the title role in 1962’s Billy Budd, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

He soon became an icon of the 1960s London scene and later recalled how he blew his chance to succeed Sean Connery as James Bond.

“Like most English actors, I’d have loved to be 007 because I really know how to wear a suit,” Stamp recalled in an interview with The Standard in 2013. Franchise producer Harry Saltzman took him out to dinner to discuss the role, but Stamp said, “I think my ideas about it put the frighteners on Harry. I didn’t get a second call from him.”

Stamp went on to star in The Collector, Modesty Blaise, and Far From the Madding Crowd. In the late 1960s, he starred in Federico Fellini’s portion of the Edgar Allan Poe horror anthology film Spirits of the Dead and director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s surrealist drama Teorema.

Stamp was cast as the Kryptonian supervillain General Zod in the 1978 movie Superman. He reprised the role in Superman II, which saw Zod and his minions, Ursa and Non, escape the Phantom Zone and try to conquer Earth. The role of Zod wasn’t Stamp’s only turn in a DC Comics project, as he later voiced Jor-El in the 2000s TV series Smallville.

"At the beginning, it was tough for me to actually become an actor. And when I got my first break, I was so thrilled that I was able to earn my living doing something that I truly loved. What I wanted more than anything was a long career," Stamp told IGN in 2005.

"So I guess it's really very satisfying for me because there's a whole section of the public that remembers Billy Budd, there's a whole section who remembers me from Far from the Madding Crowd, and then there's an awful lot of people for whom their first film experience was I or II of the Superman movies. And at the time that I did it, I just had the feeling that by the time all these kids grow up, as many of them who love Superman will love Zod."

Stamp appeared in several high-profile films throughout the 1980s, including Wall Street, Young Guns, Legal Eagles, and Alien Nation. He starred opposite John Hurt and Tim Roth (in his film debut) in director Stephen Frears’ 1984 crime flick The Hit.

He earned acclaim, as well as Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, for his performance as drag queen Bernadette Bassenger in 1994’s road comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Stamp earned more accolades for his lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey, where he played an English criminal who comes to the U.S. to investigate the death of his daughter.

Following his only turn in a Star Wars film in 1999’s The Phantom Menace, Stamp appeared in Red Planet, The Haunted Mansion, and Elektra, where he played the blind sensei Stick opposite Jennifer Garner as the titular Marvel Comics assassin.

Stamp’s later roles include Wanted, Get Smart, Yes Man, Valkyrie, Big Eyes, The Adjustment Bureau, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

His final film role was in Edgar Wright’s 2021 psychological thriller Last Night in Soho. Stamp also lent his distinctive voice to video games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Halo 3.

What’s your favorite Terence Stamp role? Let us know in the comments.