Terence Stamp died. He was 87.

According to his relatives, the actor passed away on Sunday, August 17.

“He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come,” they told the source. “We ask for privacy at this sad time.”

A Stamp spokesperson did not immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for comment on August 17.

Stamp was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 1962 film Billy Budd. He is well known for his villainous parts, having played General Zod in 1978’s Superman and 1980’s Superman II, as well as appearing in Wall Street, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and The Haunted Mansion, to mention a few.

Stamp was born in London in 1938. Stamp’s father was in the Merchant Navy, and he spent much of his boyhood away from the family. Stamp was a toddler when London was bombed during World War II.

“The first film I ever saw was called Beau Geste, with Gary Cooper,” he told BFI in 2013. “My mother took me to watch it. I was probably less than four years old. Cooper played a soldier in the Foreign Legion. I didn’t comprehend the significance, but it left an unforgettable effect on me.”

He kept his acting dreams covert. “It wasn’t until we got our first TV—I would’ve been about 17, I think, and I was already at work—that I started saying things like, ‘Oh, I could do that,'” he told the British Film Institute. “My father turned me off it. He was probably attempting to spare me a lot of trouble. He truly felt that people like us did not do things like that.”

Stamp’s aspirations persevered. He received a scholarship to study at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and immediately began acting in repertory theater. He befriended other young actors Michael Caine and Peter O’Toole.

He made his film debut in 1962’s Billy Budd, playing the titular character. He was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor and won the Golden Globe for most promising male newcomer.

He told NPR in 2002 that his roommate, Caine, helped him master the fundamentals of film acting before he arrived on set, and once the cameras were rolling, he felt right at home. “When I started the movie, a kind of amazing thing happened because I just discovered that—it was like I knew it,” he told reporters. “It seemed very natural to me. Everything I saw that was new, I comprehended relatively immediately.”

Stamp became identified with the Swinging London culture of the 1960s. During that period, he appeared in Modesty Blaise in 1966 and Far from the Madding Crowd in 1967, both starring Julie Christie.

However, as the decade finished, his productivity dried up. “It’s a mystery to me,” he told the Guardian in 2015. “I was in my prime. When the 1960s ended, I was done with them. My agency told me, ‘They are all searching for a young Terence Stamp.’ And I thought, ‘I am young.’ I was 31, 32. ” I could not believe it. “He left London and spent the majority of the decade traveling until, when in India, he received a telegram giving him a job alongside Christopher Reeve in 1978’s Superman.

“During that time away from the screen, I had transmuted myself,” he told the site. “I no longer considered myself a leading man. What had transpired inside of me allowed me to accept the part without feeling humiliated or upset about portraying the villain. I have essentially decided that I am now a character actor, which means I can take on any role. He also appeared in Superman II, released in 1980.

Stamp’s first leading role in nearly a decade came in 1984 with The Hit. He received the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1991 for his role in Beltenebros.

In The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), he was able to break out of the villain box once more. He played the role of Bernadette, a trans woman traveling by car with drag queens Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving. Stamp got significant praise for his portrayal and was nominated for best actor at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.

“Cross-dressing has been around at least since Shakespeare,” Stamp told People in 1994. “It would be good if more androgyny were the next major societal development. It would make relationships simpler. He told PEOPLE that he was very pleased for people to see him in a prominent role. He said, “I’m sure Hollywood will say, ‘We knew he was a great villain; now we know he’s got great legs.'” I live in hope.”

Stamp told BFI in 2013 that he was scared to say yes to the project, but a buddy urged him to do so. “It was only when I got there and got through the fear that it became one of the great experiences of my whole career,” he told me. “It was probably the most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life.” In 2024, it was revealed that the Priscilla cast will return for a sequel.

Stamp featured in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but he told Empire Magazine in 2013 that he thought director George Lucas was more concerned with visual effects than performers; thus, he declined to return for the trilogy’s subsequent chapters.

His previous film roles include Elektra (2005), Get Smart and Valkyrie (2008), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery (2019), and Last Night in Soho (2021).

Stamp had only a few television appearances, including a part as Jor-El, Superman’s biological father, in the show Smallville. Stamp’s Jor-El appears solely as a disembodied voice.

Stamp married Elizabeth O’Rourke in 2002. She was 29, and he was 64. They got divorced in 2008.