Legendary actor Terence Stamp, known for iconic roles in Superman and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, has died at the age of 87, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in film.

Terence Stamp has died at the age of 87. (Reuters: Paul Hackett)

Actor Terence Stamp, famed for portraying the villainous General Zod in the 1977 film Superman, has died at the age of 87. Rising to stardom in the 1960s, the London-born star was a friend of Princess Diana and later reignited his career with standout roles in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Valkyrie.

Terence Stamp is perhaps best known for his role as General Zod in Superman, starring alongside Christopher Reeve. (Archives du 7eme Art/Photo12 via AFP)

British actor Terence Stamp, best known for his roles in Superman and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, has died at the age of 87.

Stamp rose to fame in the 1960s, later gaining worldwide recognition as the villainous General Zod opposite Christopher Reeve in Superman and Superman II. A versatile performer, he also auditioned for the role of James Bond and appeared in films including Star Wars and Valkyrie.

His family confirmed he passed away on Sunday morning, though the cause of death was not disclosed. “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,” they said in a statement.

To Australian audiences, Stamp is especially remembered for his acclaimed performance as a transgender woman in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), a film that won an Oscar for costume design and inspired stage musicals worldwide. Reflecting on the role, Stamp once admitted, “It was only when I got there, and got through the fear, that it became one of the great experiences of my whole career.

“It was probably the most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Stamp played the transgender role of role Bernadette Bassenger in the 1994 Priscilla movie. (Supplied)

But after his early success in the 1960s, Stamp’s career revival almost never happened.

He often recalled that during a long stretch without work — nearly eight years — he had seriously considered becoming a tantric sex teacher at an ashram in India. Then, in 1977, a telegram from his London agent changed everything: he was being considered for Superman.

“I was on the night flight the next day,” Stamp later told Watkins Books in a 2015 interview.

Terrence Stamp said the role in Priscilla was one of the most rewarding of his career.

‘I would have been laughed at’

Terence Henry Stamp, born in 1938 in London’s East End, experienced a challenging start to life. His father was a tugboat coal stoker, and his mother, he often said, instilled in him a great zest for life. He lived through the World War II bombings and the subsequent hardships, later reflecting, “The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning because we were really poor.”

Stamp left school early, starting as a messenger boy at an advertising firm and quickly advancing. He secretly harbored acting ambitions, fearing his family’s disapproval, stating, “I couldn’t tell anyone I wanted to be an actor because it was out of the question. I would have been laughed at.” Eventually, he earned a scholarship to drama school.

Early in his acting career, Stamp shared a flat with Michael Caine. He soon secured the lead role in Peter Ustinov’s 1962 film, Billy Budd, an adaptation of the novel about brutality in the 18th-century British navy. This role earned him an Academy Award nomination and was a source of great personal pride.

After his early success in Hollywood and art house cinema, Terence Stamp quickly became recognised as a “swinging sixties” icon. (Collector Company/Collection ChristopheL via AFP)

Being cast by Ustinov for Billy Budd significantly boosted Stamp’s confidence, as he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019, feeling that “this is it” during filming.

Known for his striking looks and sharp style, Stamp was part of one of Britain’s most glamorous couples with Julie Christie, starring alongside her in the 1967 film Far From the Madding Crowd. However, he considered model Jean Shrimpton the true love of his life. Her loss coincided with a downturn in his career.

After not getting the role of James Bond to replace Sean Connery, Stamp sought new opportunities. He appeared in Italian films and collaborated with Federico Fellini in the late 1960s, a period he viewed as a turning point. He considered being cast by Fellini “the greatest compliment an actor like myself could get.”

Friendship with a princess

It was while working in Rome – where he appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem in 1968 and A Season in Hell in 1971 — that Stamp met Indian spiritual speaker and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968.

Krishnamurti taught the Englishman how to pause his thoughts and meditate, prompting Stamp to study yoga in India.

Mumbai was his base but he spent long periods at the ashram in Pune, dressed in orange robes and growing his hair long, while learning the teachings of his yogi, including tantric sex.

“There was a rumour around the ashram that he was preparing me to teach the tantric group,” he said in the 2015 interview with Watkins Books.

“There was a lot of action going on.”

Terence Stamp’s success continued into the 2010s with films such as Yes Man and Valkyrie. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)

After landing the role of General Zod, the megalomaniacal leader of the Kryptonians, in Superman in 1978 and its sequel in 1980, both times opposite Christopher Reeve, he went on to appear in a string of other films, including in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994.

Other films included Valkyrie with Tom Cruise in 2008, The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon in 2011 and movies directed by Tim Burton.

He counted Princess Diana among his friends.

“It wasn’t a formal thing, we’d just meet up for a cup of tea, or sometimes we’d have a long chat for an hour. Sometimes it would be very quick,” he told the Daily Express newspaper in 2017.

“The time I spent with her was a good time.”

In 2002, Stamp married for the first time at the age of 64 — to Elizabeth O’Rourke, a pharmacist, who was 35 years his junior.

They divorced in 2008.

Asked by the Stage 32 website how he got film directors to believe in his talent, Stamp said: “I believed in myself.

“Originally, when I didn’t get cast I told myself there was a lack of discernment in them.

“This could be considered conceit. I look at it differently. Cherishing that divine spark in myself.”