Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: listedpronouns and unrecognized parameters: other, SW, voice
- "It wasn't the usual kind of one-dimensional part you often get when you're offered cameos, and I thought it would be really nice to work with George Lucas. I've worked with a lot of great directors, and I thought it would be nice to be directed by him. And I'd heard about the other people who were going to be playing in it, and I thought they were all first division. So it just seemed like a fun thing to do, really."
- ―Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp (born July 22, 1938) played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.
Biography
Early life
Stamp, the eldest of five children, was born in Stepney, London, England, the son of Ethel Ester (née Perrott) and Thomas Stamp, who was a stoker on a Thames tug-boat.[1] His early years were spent in the East End of London, but later in his childhood the family moved to Plaistow, Essex. His brother, Chris Stamp, was a music producer credited with helping to bring The Who to prominence during the 1960s. As his father was away for long periods with his job in the Merchant Navy, the young Stamp was mostly raised by his mother, grandmother and aunts. He grew up idolizing the actor Gary Cooper after his mother had taken him to see Beau Geste at the age of three. He was also inspired by James Dean.
On leaving school Stamp worked in a variety of advertising agencies in London, working his way up to a very respectable wage. Deep down he wanted to be an actor, a realization that came when Stamp found he no longer had to serve two years' national service after being rejected for once having treatment on his feet.
Career
Stamp began his acting career in the late 1950s. He won a scholarship to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and his first professional role in the play The Long and the Short and the Tall where he met fellow actor Michael Caine.
His debut role in Billy Budd earned Stamp a Golden Globe Award, along with an Academy nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. He played many other roles, including General Zod, one of the primary villains in Superman and Superman II. He also provided the voices of the Prophet of Truth in the Xbox 360 video game Halo 3, Jor-El in the TV series Smallville, and God in the audio version of The Passion of the Christ.
In 1966, Stamp starred with Clive Revill (original voice of Emperor Palpatine in Episode V) in the film Modesty Blaise. In 1999, he appeared in Bowfinger, a comedy film directed by Frank Oz (voice and muppeteer of Yoda in the movies). In 2001, he shared screen with Oliver Ford Davies (Sio Bibble) in the film Revelation. In 2003, he worked for one episode of the TV series Static Shock with Phil LaMarr and Kevin Michael Richardson. In 2012, he appeared in the music video for Hot Chip's song "Night & Day" directed by Peter Serafinowicz (voice of Darth Maul in Episode I).
Stamp has also published four volumes of his memoirs, Stamp Album (1987), Coming Attractions (1988), Double Feature (1989), and Rare Stamps: Reflections on Living, Breathing and Acting (2011), as well as a novel entitled The Night (1993). A vegetarian since 1968[2] and victim of life-long allergies, Stamp created with his friend Elizabeth Buxton in 1994 The Stamp Collection, a range of wheat and dairy-free foods.[3] They also together wrote cookbooks: The Stamp Collection Cookbook in 2000 and The Wheat- and Dairy-Free Cookbook in 2002.
Personal life
In the 1960s, Stamp shared an apartment with Michael Caine before and during their rise to fame.[4] In his autobiography, Double Feature, Stamp describes his life with Caine, including an incident in which Caine tried to force Stamp to reverse his decision to turn down the starring role in Alfie, which Caine later accepted. In his autobiography, What's it All About, Caine states that he "still wakes up sweating in the night as he sees Terence agreeing to accept my advice."
Stamp received extensive media coverage of his romances in the 1960s with film stars Brigitte Bardot, Joan Collins, and Julie Christie, as well as supermodels Jean Shrimpton and Celia Hammond. His and Christie's romance, and their high profiles during London's 'swinging 60s,' were at one point thought to be referenced in The Kinks' 1967 song, "Waterloo Sunset," with the lines about "Terry and Julie." He and Shrimpton were one of the most photographed couples of Mod London. It was after Shrimpton ended her relationship with Stamp that he moved to India. There, he lived in an ashram, dropping out from society for several years.
On New Year's Eve 2002, Stamp married for the first time. His bride was Elizabeth O'Rourke, an Australian pharmacist 35 years his junior. Stamp first met her during the mid-1990s at a pharmacy in Bondi, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The couple divorced on the grounds of his "unreasonable behavior" in April 2008.[5]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2014 | The Devil's Harvest | Ivan | Announced |
| 2014 | Big Eyes | John Canaday | Announced |
| 2013 | The Art of the Steal | Samuel Winter | |
| 2012 | "Night & Day" | Unknown role | Music video |
| 2012 | One Square Mile: London | Clarence | Short movie (voice) |
| 2012 | Song for Marion | Arthur | |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | Thompson | |
| 2010 | Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie | Cpt. Severus | (voice) |
| 2009 | Wanted: Weapons of Fate | Pekwarsky | Video game (voice) |
| 2008 | Valkyrie | Ludwig Beck | |
| 2008 | Yes Man | Terrence Bundley | |
| 2008 | Flowers and Weeds | Storyteller | Short movie |
| 2008 | Get Smart | Siegfried | TV series |
| 2008 | Wanted | Pekwarsky | |
| 2007 | Halo 3 | Prophet of Truth | Video game (voice) |
| 2007 | September Dawn | Brigham Young | |
| 2006 | 9/11: The Twin Towers | Narrator | TV documentary (voice) |
| 2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Mankar Camoran | Video game (voice) |
| 2006 | These Foolish Things | Baker | |
| 2005 | "At the Bottom of Everything" | Unknown role | Music video |
| 2005 | Dead Fish | Samuel Fish | |
| 2005 | Separate Lies | Joe | Uncredited |
| 2005 | Elektra | Stick | |
| 2003/2011 | Smallville | Jor-El | TV series (voice) |
| 2003 | The Haunted Mansion | Ramsley | |
| 2003 | The Kiss | Philip Naudet | |
| 2003 | My Boss's Daughter | Jack Taylor | |
| 2003 | Static Shock | Dennis/Professor Menace | TV series (voice) |
| 2002 | Full Frontal | Man on Plane/Himself | |
| 2001 | Revelation | Magnus Martel | |
| 2001 | My Wife Is an Actress | John | |
| 2000 | Red Planet | Dr. Bud Chantilas | |
| 1999 | Bowfinger | Terry Stricter | |
| 1999 | Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace | Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum | |
| 1999 | The Limey | Wilson | |
| 1998 | Kiss the Sky | Kozen | |
| 1997-1998 | The Hunger | The Host | TV series |
| 1997 | Bliss | Baltazar | TV movie |
| 1997 | Love Walked In | Fred Moore | |
| 1996 | Mindbender | Joe Hartman | TV movie |
| 1996 | Limited Edition | Edward Lamb | |
| 1994 | The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | Ralph Waite/Bernadette Bassenger | |
| 1993 | The Real McCoy | Jack Schmidt | |
| 1991 | Prince of Shadows | Darman | |
| 1990 | Genuine Risk | Paul Hellwart | |
| 1988 | Alien Nation | William Harcourt | |
| 1988 | Young Guns | John Tunstall | |
| 1987 | Wall Street | Sir Lawrence Wildman | |
| 1987 | The Sicilian | Prince Borsa | |
| 1986 | Hud | Edward | |
| 1986 | Legal Eagles | Victor Taft | |
| 1986 | Link | Dr. Steven Phillip | |
| 1984 | The Company of Wolves | The Devil | Uncredited |
| 1984 | The Hit | Willie Parker | |
| 1983 | Chessgame | David Audley | TV series |
| 1982 | Vatican Conspiracy | Padre Andreani | |
| 1981 | Jules Verne's Mystery on Monster Island | Taskinar/Skinner | |
| 1980 | Superman II | General Zod | |
| 1979 | Together? | Henry | |
| 1979 | Meetings with Remarkable Men | Prince Lubovedsky | |
| 1979 | Licanthropus, il figlio della notte | Unknown role | |
| 1978 | Superman | General Zod | |
| 1978 | The Thief of Baghdad | Wazir Jaudur | TV movie |
| 1977 | Black Out | Edgar Poe | |
| 1976 | Striptease | Alain | |
| 1975 | The Divine Nymph | Dany di Bagnasco | |
| 1975 | Hu-Man | Terence | |
| 1970 | The Mind of Mr. Soames | John Soames | |
| 1970 | A Season in Hell | Arthur Rimbaud | |
| 1968 | Teorema | The Visitor | |
| 1968 | Spirits of the Dead | Toby Dammit | Segment "Toby Dammit" |
| 1968 | Blue | Blue | |
| 1967 | Poor Cow | Dave Fuller | |
| 1967 | Far from the Madding Crowd | Sgt. Francis 'Frank' Troy | |
| 1966 | Modesty Blaise | Willie Garvin | |
| 1965 | The Collector | Freddie Clegg | |
| 1962 | Billy Budd | Billy Budd | |
| 1962 | Term of Trial | Mitchell |
Behind the scenes
While Valorum is 1.70 meters in the Expanded Universe,[6] Stamp is taller than his character, at 1.83 meters.[7] In 1995, Stamp was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#59).[7]
Bibliography
Biography: Terence Stamp on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
"Stamp of Approval" — Star Wars Insider 41
Notes and references
- ↑ Terence Stamp Biography (1938?-), published by Film Reference on www.filmreference.com (backup link not verified!)
- ↑ Terence Stamp Biography, published by Escargot Books on www.escargot-books.com (backup link not verified!)
- ↑ 'Eating wheat was like swallowing glue', published by The Guardian on www.guardian.co.uk (December 20, 2001) (backup link not verified!)
- ↑ Terence Stamp’s London roots, published by East London History on eastlondonhistory.com (backup link not verified!)
- ↑ Actor Stamp and wife get divorce, published by BBC News on news.bbc.co.uk (April 29, 2008) (backup link not verified!)
- ↑ The New Essential Guide to Characters
- ↑ 7.0 7.1
Terence Stamp – Biography at the Internet Movie Database
