Terence Stamp, a luminary of 1960s British cinema, dies at 87

At the age of 87, Terence Stamp, an English actor best remembered for playing a Kryptonian supervillain in "Superman" and "Superman II," has died.

His relatives verified that he had died, but they didn't say where or how.

Stamp became well-known when he played the title character in the 1962 movie "Billy Budd." The black and white drama, directed by Peter Ustinov, who also starred, saw Stamp nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor - the only Oscar nomination of his lengthy career.

He went on to star in a host of films in the 1960s, among them John Schlesinger’s Thomas Hardy adaptation “Far From the Madding Crowd” and Ken Loach’s first feature film, “Poor Cow.”

He was a celebrity who came from a poor family in London's East End, which is about as far from Hollywood as you can get. Thomas Stamp, a tugboat stoker with the Merchant Navy, and Ethel (Perrott) Stamp had Terence Henry Stamp on July 22, 1938, in London. He was the fifth of their five children.

Stamp did star in “Modesty Blaise” (1966), as a secret agent’s Cockney sidekick; Ken Loach’s “Poor Cow” (1967), as a sensitive working-class guy; and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Theorem” (1968), as a mysterious stranger who beds every single member of a household, including the maid. Federico Fellini directed him as an alcoholic actor who was killing himself in "Spirits of the Dead" (1968).

Stamp was in more than 50 movies from 1978 to 2019.  People really liked his role as an ex-con out for revenge on the drug-trafficking record producer Peter Fonda in Steven Soderbergh's "The Limey" (1999).

He also had roles in “Legal Eagles” (1986), “Wall Street” (1987), “Young Guns” (1988), “Alien Nation” (1988), and “Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace” (1999), as chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He played a grumpy old man whose wife was dying in "Unfinished Song" (2012), which was originally called "Song for Marion." Mr. Stamp was the voice of Superman's noble Kryptonian father in the TV show "Smallville." Before that, he played a villain in the Superman franchise.

By the time he got the part in the "Superman" series, Stamp's career had slowed down a bit.  He later played a transgender lady in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994) and kept getting jobs in a wide range of genres, from thrillers to comedies to fantasy-adventures.

His final role was in the 2021 horror-thriller “Last Night in Soho.”

Mr. Stamp had very famous relationships with the British supermodel Jean Shrimpton and Ms. Christie in the 1960s.  In 2002, at age 64, he married Elizabeth O’Rourke, a 29-year-old Australian pharmacist; they divorced in 2008.