The acting world has just lost another icon with the passing of Terence Stamp. He was 87 years old at his time of death. Born July 22nd, 1938, Stamp began his acting career with stage plays. After a few years of successful roles, he broke into film in 1962 when he starred in Peter Ustinov’s Billy Budd. Playing the titular role, the film was what would put Stamp on the map, the role wound up securing him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 35th Academy Awards. He wound up losing to Ed Begley for Sweet Bird Of Youth. 

In the years following Billy Budd, Stamp would appear in a multitude of films. Some of his credits include Big Eyes, Wall Street, Wanted, and The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, with even a small role as Chancellor Valorum in Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace. His most recent film role was in 2021’s Last Night In Soho. 

Stamp also has credits of several other mediums to his name, including television and video games. He appeared in His Dark Materials, and even had a recurring role on Smallville. When it comes to video games, he lent his voice to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as well as Halo 3. 

Possibly his most iconic work, however, was that of General Zod, playing opposite Christopher Reeve’s Superman. Appearing briefly in Richard Donner’s Superman, where he and his underlings were sentenced to the Phantom Zone by Marlon Brando’s Jor-El, Stamp would return for the 1980 sequel Superman II as the main antagonist. Accidentally released from the Phantom Zone, Zod travels to Earth and decides to use his powers to take on the Man of Steel and make the entire world kneel before him. Stamp’s Zod was the first time the character made the jump from the comic pages, and would set a standard for the character seen in media to this day. 

Hollywood Reporter even noted that Stamp was ecstatic to be able to appear alongside Brando, even if only for a short time. In 1988, he told Michael Parkinson that both Brando and James Dean, who already passed at the time, were major acting icons when he was growing up, “so the idea of getting up on film with him, albeit brief, was irresistible.”

The New York Times broke the news of his passing first. No cause of death was reported.