When Terence Stamp revealed his bond with Princess Diana: 'I saw the sadness in her...'

Terence Stamp, the English actor who played the arch-villain General Zod in Superman films, has died at the age of 87. In a career that spanned six decades, the Oscar-nominated actor starred in films including The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Far From the Madding Crowd and Valkyrie.

Stamp died on Sunday morning, his family told Reuters news agency in a statement. "He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and a writer that will continue to touch people for years to come," they said.

Stamp won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his terrifying performance as a psycho who holds a young woman (Samantha Eggar) hostage in William Wyler’s The Collector (1965), then experienced a resurgence when he played the Kryptonian megalomaniac General Zod in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980).


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Terence Stamp on his sex life

In an interview in 2017, Terence Stamp was reportedly preparing to bid goodbye to his once very busy sex life. In an exclusive interview with today’s Event magazine, the star of Superman and Wall Street said: "The fact is I am past my best. I’ve still got wonderful relationships with women but I’m not looking to get it four times a week." He even admitted he’d rather practise yoga than have sex these days.

"My feeling about sex is that I’ve finally been tossed from the saddle of a horse that I’ve been clinging on to for the past 60 [years]. So it’s kind of a relief really," he added.

High-profile relationships included Julie Christie, whom he met while filming 1967’s Far From The Madding Crowd, as well as supermodel Jean Shrimpton. In his memoir, Ocean Fell Into The Drop, Terence Stamp wrote how supermodel Jean Shrimpton captured his heart in the 1960s. During their time together they were described as “the most photographed couple in London”

He lamented: "She left me because she saw I was a lunatic. I wasn’t ready for a twin-soul relationship."

Stamp was married to Elizabeth O’Rourke, whom he met in an Australian pharmacy. The couple wed when she was 29 and he was 64, but divorced after six years.

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Stamp and Princess Diana's friendship

But perhaps less well-known is his friendship with the late Princess Diana, reports Daily Mail.

About his friendship with a young Princess Diana, he said, "We got on amazingly well... I saw the sadness in her because she’d gone into a marriage believing – she was a believer in marriage. And it didn’t turn out the way she expected it to."

“The relationship came about because my friend Oliver Hoare, the art dealer, knew her,” he said. “I said, ‘I’d love to have a proper chat with her, why don’t you ask her if she’s up for it?’ He asked and she said yes. We got on amazingly well.”

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Stamp insisted that despite his reputation he and Diana kept their friendship strictly platonic. “It wasn’t like that. I thought that was the last thing she needed really. She just wanted somebody to talk to that was a guy, who would give her objective opinions. And because of that we just kind of opened up to each other.

Such was the level of their friendship Stamp would even cook dinner for the Princess. “It wasn’t a formal thing, we’d just meet up for a cup of tea, or sometimes we’d have a long chat for an hour, sometimes it would be very quick,” he says. “The time I spent with her was a good time.”

Who is Terence Stamp?

Born in Stepney, east London, to working-class parents on 22 July 1938, Stamp attended grammar school before pursuing a career in advertising.

After securing a scholarship to go to drama school, he shot to fame in the 1960s, making his debut playing the titular role in Billy Budd, a 1962 film about a naive young seaman in the 18th century.

His performance earnt him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor and a Golden Globe for best newcomer. He soon made a name for himself as a villain, with stand-out performances in Superman and Superman II as General Zod and Sergeant Troy in the 1967 Far From the Madding Crowd.