Terence Stamp, known for playing Zod in ‘Superman,’ dies at 87

Terence Stamp, the English actor best known for playing a Kryptonian supervillain in “Superman” and “Superman II,” has died at age 87, according to his family.

Stamp died Sunday morning, his family said in a statement to the Reuters news agency, but they did not specify how.

Stamp played opposite Christopher Reeve in the 1978 film and its 1980 sequel, taking on the iconic character of General Zod. The role came more than a decade after Stamp was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in the film “Billy Budd.”

Though it won him no awards, the “Superman” franchise was a defining mark in Stamp’s acting career. Stamp played Zod, the Kryptonian military leader who escaped the Phantom Zone, in both films as a foil to Reeve’s Superman.

Years later, Stamp would play another Kryptonian on the show “Smallville.” He voiced the hero’s father, Jor-El, on the show, which chronicled the life of a young Clark Kent before he chose to don the crimson cape in Metropolis.

Stamp, the first of five children born to a tugboat stoker, grew up in London as bombs fell during World War II. He later worked at advertising agencies in the city before winning a scholarship to attend drama school.

He kicked off his acting career with an Academy Award nomination for his debut film “Billy Budd” (1962) before going on to receive the Golden Globe for new star of the year in 1963.

Stamp’s career had slowed somewhat by the time he landed his role in the “Superman” franchise. Later, he went on to play a transgender woman in “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1994) and continued to take roles in a variety of genres including thrillers, comedy and fantasy-adventure.

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

Stamp published a series of memoirs from 1987 to 2017, including his 2011 “Rare Stamps,” which detailed the most pivotal moments of his life. He described the book on his website as a look into the “tent poles that enabled me to keep a roof over my head for 50 years while I encouraged the artist within to show its face.”