Terence Stamp passed away at the age of 87. Stamp was one of our great classic actors, best known to dorks like me as General Zod in the first two Superman movies. He also gave a trailblazing performance in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and commanded the screen in The Limey. There are dozens upon dozens of roles you could pull from Stamp’s career to give him the spotlight. No one can argue he wasn’t a world-class thespian who brought gravitas, charisma, and professionalism to the world of acting.
But, I’m a weirdo who likes and watches weirdo movies. When Donald Sutherland passed away, the first movie I thought of was the sci-fi horror cheesefest Virus. Similarly, when I read the news about Terence Stamp, the very first movie that popped into my head was a killer ape flick called Link.
Terence Stamp And His Fire-Loving Chimpanzee Butler, Link
Link is a 1986 film from director Richard Franklin (Psycho II) where Terence Stamp plays Dr. Steven Phillip, a kooky professor who has grown up with a chimpanzee named Link. Link was part of a circus act run by Phillip’s parents where the enslaved ape would do astonishing tricks with matches and fire. After the circus, Link became a servant to Phillip as the professor began to experiment with apes and their intelligent link to humans.
The bulk of the movie doesn’t actually focus on Terence Stamp’s character. Link is centered around Jane Chase (Elisabeth Shue), a student who is invited to be Phillip’s assistant over the summer. She is tasked with taking care of the different apes and assisting with the experiments. However, Dr. Phillip seems to disappear for a while and leaves Jane in charge. It also looks like Link is taking too much of a liking to her, or maybe he is trying to get rid of her?
Though Terence Stamp does not get a ton of screen time in Link, he makes the absolute most of it as every appearance shows him acting stranger and even more apelike himself. It’s proof about why Stamp was such a beloved presence in movies: he always went all in, even in a killer chimp movie.
The Professionals Never Look Down At Genre
The fact that Terence Stamp didn’t phone in his performance or treat Link like it was beneath his acting skill speaks to his respected stature. The fact that the man will likely be remembered by most people as a comic book supervillain speaks to the devotion he brought to that kind of role. Terence Stamp assuredly took roles he didn’t like, but you couldn’t tell when he came to put in the work.
I love that Terence Stamp is in a movie like Link. It shows that no matter how absurd, trashy, or downright warped a genre project might be, professional actors give it as much depth and care as any dramatic role. Stamp himself understood that about the genre as far back as 1965 when he starred in the adaptation of The Collector. That dark, twisted thriller would help propel him into stardom, and probably led to him appearing in the Federico Fellini adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Toby Dammit.
As you can see, Terence Stamp was someone who appreciated genre fare like Link. He was a true appreciator of the arts and all their myriad possibilities, including movies about killer chimpanzee (actually played by an orangutan) butlers. His presence will be missed.
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