British actor Terence Stamp, who portrayed supervillain General Zod opposite Christopher Reeve in โSupermanโ and โSuperman IIโ has died, his family announced. He was 87.
Stampโs family shared news of his death in a statement sent to the Reuters news agency on Sunday, Aug. 17, saying that he died that morning.
The statement did not include information about his cause of death.
Stamp, born in Londonโs East End in 1938, had a career that spanned over seven decades. He booked his first part in 1960, according to IMDb, before landing the leading role in historical adventure โBilly Buddโ as the titular character in 1962, when his fame took off. The part garnered him his first and only Academy Award nomination in 1963. Stamp also won a Golden Globe the same year for most promising newcomer.
He continued to regularly land parts in television shows and movies over the next decade before he was cast as Kryptonian military leader General Zod in the 1978 hit โSuperman.โ While Stamp had a smaller role in the first flick โ as Gene Hackmanโs Lex Luthor was the main antagonist โ he returned as Zod in the 1980 sequel โSuperman IIโ as the major supervillain.
After the success of the โSupermanโ films, Stamp went on to appear in popular movies, such as โWall Street,โ โThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of Desert,โ โStar Wars: Episode 1 โ The Phantom Menace,โ โGet Smartโ and โValkyrie,โ as well as television shows, such as โThe Hunger.โ
He re-joined the โSupermanโ universe to voice the role of Jor-El on The CW drama โSmallville.โ His voice can be heard in 23 episodes across the showโs 10-season run, according to IMDb.
More recently, he had roles in the fantasy film โMiss Peregrineโs Home for Peculiar Childrenโ in 2016 and the HBO television show โHis Dark Materials.โ
Stampโs final role was in the 2021 horror mystery โLast Night in Sohoโ alongside Matt Smith, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sam Claflin.
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