London, UK – British actor Terence Stamp, a leading man of 1960s cinema before reinventing himself in a series of striking roles – including as Superman villain General Zod – has died aged 87, UK media cited his family announcing Sunday.
“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,” media quoted the family saying.
Stamp exploded onto the screen in the 1960s as a leading man, even then sometimes playing troubled characters. At one point, he seemed to specialize in playing brooding villains.
Later still, he broke out of that typecasting to play a partying transgender woman in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
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From Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem to a villain’s role in one of the Star Wars films, the handsome leading man captivated audiences in both arthouse films and Hollywood blockbusters.
He lent his magnetic presence to more than 60 films during a career that spanned a range of genres.
“I was so closely identified with the 1960s that when that era ended, I was finished with it,” he once told French daily Liberation.
But the dry spell did not last long. Stamp revived his career for some of his most popular roles, including in 1980’s Superman II, as Superman’s arch-nemesis General Zod.
His famous line from that film, “Kneel before Zod!” was spreading online in social media tributes after the news broke of his death.
