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March 25, 2015: Terence Stamp Talks Career as Leading Man and Character Actor

In a recent interview with the Guardian, actor Terence Stamp spoke at length about his decades long career in such films as "Billy Budd," "Young Guns," "The Haunted Mansion," and of course "Superman: The Movie" and "Superman: II."

During the course of the interview, Stamp talked about making the transition from a leading man in film to character actor in his role as the villianous Kryptonian, General Zod in the first two Superman movies. Here's an excerpt from the article:

“It’s a mystery to me. I was in my prime. When the 1960s ended, I just ended with it. I remember my agent telling me: ‘They are all looking for a young Terence Stamp.’ And I thought: ‘I am young.’ I was 31, 32. I couldn’t believe it. It was tough to wake up in the morning, and the phone not ringing. I thought: this can’t be happening now, it’s only just started. The day-to-day thing was awful, and I couldn’t live with it. So I bought a round-the-world ticket and left.” His fallow 70s period culminated with his extended India trip and it was while he was there, in 1976, that he got the celebrated telegram addressed to “Clarence Stamp”, offering him the role in Superman. (“I was on the plane the next evening.”)

Playing Zod, it turns out, engineered a mind-shift, a third-act transformation that allowed him to reclaim his career. “During that time away from the screen, I had transmuted myself. I no longer saw myself as a leading man. What had happened inside of me enabled me to take the role, and not feel embarassed or depressed about playing the villain. I just decided I was a character actor now and I can do anything.”