Terence Stamp Turns 68

by Kimberly Lindbergs | July 22, 2007

Categories | Actors, British Cinema, Michelangelo Antonioni, Terence Stamp, Julie Christie

Terence Stamp

One of my favorite actors is the handsome, talented and all-around extraordinary Terence Stamp who is celebrating his 68th birthday today. Stamp got interested in acting at the tender age of four after seeing Gary Cooper in Beau Geste (1939), but he didn’t decide to seriously pursue acting until he was seventeen years old. On New Years Eve in 1956 Stamp went to a screening of Elia Kazan’s East of Eden (1955) which starred James Dean and the film completely overwhelmed him. Terence Stamp related to Dean in a way that he hadn’t with other performers and soon after Stamp decided to enroll at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London to study acting.

In the early sixties Stamp started appearing in various stage productions where he met fellow actor Michael Caine. The two young men with working class backgrounds shared a lot in common and they quickly became friends and roommates. After landing the starring role in Peter Ustinov’s critically acclaimed film adaptation of the Herman Melville novel Billy Budd (1962), Terence Stamp was suddenly hailed as one of Britain’s brightest new stars. The role of Billy Budd won Stamp a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and also landed him an Oscar nomination.

The Collector (1966)
Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar in The Collector (1965)

Soon after Terence Stamp and Michael Caine became familiar faces in swinging London and they were regularly seen together at Peter Cook’s popular Soho nightclub The Establishment. The two handsome actors entertained many lovely British actresses and models at the flat they shared and together they earned a reputation for being extremely popular with the ladies. One of these ladies was the lovely actress Julie Christie who Stamp was said to be romantically involved with for a brief time. Their relationship was memorialized in The Kinks song Waterloo Sunset which contains the lines; “Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station every Friday night.”

Amid all the partying Stamp continued to act and after making Billy Budd he starred in William Wyler’s brilliant adaptation of John Fowles novel The Collector (1965). His role as the rather sad and disturbed Freddie Clegg in The Collector was a huge departure from the sensitive and sweet character of Billy Budd that Stamp had previously played and it gave him the chance to really show off his impressive acting abilities. The Collector was nominated for many awards and Stamp won Best Actor for his performance at Cannes in 1966. He also continued to act on stage and appeared in the popular London stage production of Bill Naughton’s play Alfie. Stamp was offered the starring role in the film version of Alfie (1966) as well but he decided to turn it down and suggested that his roommate and friend Michael Caine take the role instead. Caine did, and his performance as Alfie won him a lot of well-earned critical attention. Together Stamp and Caine became two of London’s most recognized celebrities.

While making the The Collector Terence Stamp met and fell deeply in love with the beautiful British model and occasional actress Jean Shrimpton. Sometime afterward Stamp decided to move out of the place he shared with Michael Caine and into his own flat at The Albany which was an exclusive gentlemen’s apartment in the heart of London that had previously been home to historic figures such as the poet Lord Byron. I had the chance to briefly visit The Albany when I was in London seven years ago and it’s an incredibly lovely old building that sits across the street from the wonderful Hatchards Bookshop.

During this time Stamp was offered the starring role in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blowup (1966), but Antonioni decided to replace Stamp at the last minute with actor David Hemmings. This incident supposedly devastated Stamp and many critics have written about how it seemed to throw a wrench into his career, but I would disagree with that. Stamp would appear in many great films throughout the sixties including Jospeh Losey’s terrific pop art spy spoof Modesty Blaise (1966), John Schlesinger’s beautiful adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), Ken Loach’s gritty kitchen sink drama Poor Cow (1967), the interesting western Blue (1968), Fellini’s amazing segment of the horror and fantasy anthology Spirits of the Dead (a.k.a. Histoires Extraordinaires, 1968) and Pasolini’s fascinating and brilliant Teorema (1968). Many of the films he appeared in met with mixed critical reviews but his performances were often singled out as being consistently good. The starring role in Antonioni’s Blowup would have been a nice addition to Terence Stamp’s filmography, but his excellent and varied career as an actor is just as impressive without it.

As the sixties came to a close, Stamp’s relationship with Jean Shrimpton supposedly fell apart when he found out she was having an affair with another man. This discovery was said to have destroyed Stamp and much like the British actor James Fox who I wrote about earlier this year, Stamp decided to take a break from acting and devote himself to spiritual studies. Before his self-imposed sabbatical, Stamp appeared in a couple of worthwhile films in the early seventies including the British science fiction film The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) and Nello Risi’s Una Stagione all’inferno (1970) where he appeared as the French poet Arthur Rimbaud alongside Jean-Claude Brialy as Paul Verlaine. I’ve recently had the chance to view The Mind of Mr. Soames so you can expect a review from me very soon, but I still haven’t been able to track down a copy Una Stagione all’inferno and I would love to see that film. Hopefully it will become available sooner or later.

Terence Stamp & Jean Shrimpton
Jean Shrimpton and Terence Stamp with his horse Modesty in 1965.
Jean gave Modesty to Terence for his birthday after he got the role
in the film Modesty Blaise.

For the next decade Terence Stamp would spend most of his time traveling the world and living in such varied places as Spain, Japan and India where he studied the teachings of spiritual leaders such as Krishnamurti and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He occasionally took roles in interesting films like Hu-Man (1975), Divina Creatura (1975), Striptease (1976) and Black-Out (1977) but his popular roles in Richard Donner’s Superman - The Movie (1978) and Peter Brook’s Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979) really brought Terence Stamp back into the spotlight.

For the past thirty years Terence Stamp has continued to act in some good, and not so good films. I think some of his best performances in recent years can be found in The Hit (1985), The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994) and The Limey (1999). Hopefully Stamp will be offered more challenging roles in the future that make full use of his versatility and incredible skills an an actor. Even at age 68 Stamp continues to look terrific and Esquire magazine recently voted him Britain’s best dressed man.

If you’d like to learn more about Terence Stamp I recommend visiting the fan site:
- Terence Stamp : Meetings With A Remarkable Man

20 Comments »

  1. Keith says; July 22, 2007 @ 7:06 am

    Happy Birthday to Terence Stamp. I’ve always been a big fan of his. He is one of my favorite actors of the swinging 60’s. He made a lot of really great and cool flicks as a young man. It has been good over the last decade or so to see him still act. It was actually in “Superman” where I first saw him. Then I discovered he had played in all these awesome movies back in the 60’s and so. “The Limey” is actually one of my favorite movies of his in a long time.

  2. flickhead says; July 22, 2007 @ 9:29 am

    Nice dedication, CB!

    If you haven’t already seen it, check out Yvan Attal’s “My Wife is an Actress” wherein he’s Yvan, the husband of an actress named Charlotte (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg), who may or may not be falling for her new co-star on a film (Mr. Stamp).

    Netflix should carry it…

  3. cinebeats says; July 22, 2007 @ 10:11 am

    Thanks for the comments Keith and Flickhead!

    I haven'’t seen My Wife is an Actress but I will try and give it a look soon. The last Terence Stamp film I saw was that terrible Haunted House movie based on the Disney ride with Eddie Murphy. Good grief that was awful! :?

    My Wife is an Actress sounds good.

  4. Peter Nellhaus says; July 22, 2007 @ 11:18 am

    Still unavailable in any format is Term of Trial from 1962 with Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret and Sarah Miles. I saw part of it in a theater but was too young to appreciate any of it. A little piece of Stamp trivia - he got the role in Blue after it was turned down by Robert Redford.

  5. Mike says; July 22, 2007 @ 3:12 pm

    God I love him. My number 1 “to see” TS flick is def. Hu-Man, which I’ve seen a combined total of 1 still and the poster from but it looks (and sounds) amazing.

  6. Mr. Peel says; July 22, 2007 @ 3:19 pm

    In the book “Ready, Steady, Go! The Smashing Rise and Giddy Fall of Swinging London”, which devotes a fair amount of space to Stamp, there’s a quote from Michael Caine where he says that he tried to convince his friend that he should change his mind and reprise the role of Alfie for the film version. “I still wake up screaming in the middle of the night as Terry takes my advice and accepts the role,” remembers Caine.

    The book also describes Terence Stamp as leaving for India on a day when the Beatles played an impromptu concert on the roof of the Apple offices and his last memory of sixties London was John Lennon singing “Don’t Let Me Down”. This sounds a little fanciful, but does make for a striking image. He’ll be seen next summer as Siegfried in the Get Smart movie but that may not be the full use of his versatility that you’re looking for. At least we have The Limey, which is a mini-masterpiece.

  7. Jeremy says; July 22, 2007 @ 7:20 pm

    Wonderful Kimberly.
    Terence was the first person I paid tribute to in my “Great Ones” series…He is a God. I really love the guy and think that his best work is beyond compare. I love his books as well and wish he would continue them as I would love to hear detailed stories on “The Limey”.
    Great post and what can I say…Terence belongs with a vey small list of guys like Marlon, Oliver, Alain, Monty and a select few others who were always truly transcendent. Great post…

  8. candace says; July 23, 2007 @ 8:58 am

    Nicely said. I think Terence Stamp is grossly underappreciated!

  9. Anna says; July 23, 2007 @ 10:41 am

    To be honest, I’d forgotten about him - thanks for the refresher. He is good, isn’t he?

  10. Rodney Wall says; July 23, 2007 @ 11:51 am

    Terence Stamp rules.
    I first saw him in the Superman movies, and his General Zod was everything a cool villain should be.
    I didn’t notice him again till “Priscilla”, but after that I started searching him out.

    Not his best role, but one of his films I have a soft spot for is Ken Russel’s psychotic Uri Geller biopic, “Mindbender”.

  11. Neil says; July 23, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

    Nice post. It’s also nice to see some appreciation for Blue, which I liked but didn’t love when I watched it, but I’ve found myself thinking about a lot and appreciating more and more. Redford wouldn’t have been anywhere near as interesting.

  12. Jeff Duncanson says; July 23, 2007 @ 4:05 pm

    Nice piece, Kimberley.

    I just saw him in Pasolini’s “Thorum”…Strange,strange film..

    “The Collector” is one of my favorite hidden gems - he’s very creepy and very good in that one.

    A bit of Stamp trivia for ye. In “The Limey”, the opening theme music is the great Who rocker “The Seeker”. The Who’s manager was Chris Stamp….brother of you-know-who!!!

  13. cinebeats says; July 24, 2007 @ 1:19 pm

    Thanks for all the great feedback on my post about Mr. Stamp! There’s lots of good insights and film suggestions mentioned here and I enjoyed reading all the comments.

    It’s nice to know that he’s got lots of other fans who enjoy his work as much as I do. He’s an incredible actor when he gets a good part that’s worthy of his talents.

  14. Mike White says; July 29, 2007 @ 9:52 am

    How I would love to see Hu-Man as well!

  15. cinebeats says; July 30, 2007 @ 2:40 am

    Thanks for stopping by Mike! I hope you get a chance to see Hu-Man soon.

  16. Sobelle says; August 4, 2007 @ 9:34 pm

    Lovely birthday homage to an equally stunning man!

    Thank you for taking the time to share your research.

  17. Annabelle says; June 27, 2008 @ 7:28 pm

    Terence Stamp is probably my all time favorite actor. I adore many other actors but there is something extraordinarily entrancing about Terencino. I just adore him!
    I wish today’s directors looking for leading dramatic men should seriously take a closer look at Terence Stamp, given the opportunity; Terence would undeniably be an unforgettable older Edward……just a thought.

  18. Lila says; June 30, 2008 @ 6:19 pm

    Did he ever found God on his travellings?

  19. Mythical Beast says; August 1, 2008 @ 11:43 am

    It’s also worth mentioning Mr Stamp’s role as ‘The Host’ in the otherwise forgettable horror/titillation TV series ‘The Hunger’, where he plays a kind of decadent Rod Serling. His intro and epilogue to each story are absolutely captivating. He was replaced in series two by David Bowie, but if you’re a Stamp fan you should seriously consider picking up the first box set where he’s at his very best. The first few stories aren’t bad actually, but it’s Terence who you remember. His all-too-brief performances outshine everything else about the show.

  20. Princess Amara Hassim says; November 21, 2008 @ 1:03 pm

    So glad to see you’ve included a slot about Terry hon.
    If there’s one actor who deserves it yet is often overlooked in favour of his old mate, Michael Caine, it’s Terry.
    Yet you only have to look at the body of his work, to admire him. Not only has he kept going, but he’s done the stuff. From Billy Budd in 1962 to big things in The Collector in 1965 to rebirth in the 80s with films like Legal Eagles and Young Guns. This is one of those occasions whne i wish I could say it in person. Bravo Honey, and here’s to the future!
    Thanks for remembering babes X


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