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Originally appeared on E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n Hollywood is mourning the loss of a beloved actor.<\/p>\n Terence Stamp<\/strong>\u2014who was best known for his roles in 1978\u2019s Superman<\/a><\/em> as well as its 1980 sequel Superman II<\/em>\u2014died on August 17, his family confirmed to Reuters<\/a><\/em>. He was 87.<\/p>\n “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,” his family said in a statement to the outlet. “We ask for privacy at this sad time.”<\/p>\n Born as the son of a tugboat stoker in London\u2019s East End, Stamp didn\u2019t discover his love for acting until late into his teenage years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until we got our first TV\u2014I would\u2019ve been about 17 I think, and I was already at work\u2014that I started saying things like, \u2018Oh, I could do that,\u2019\u201d he told BFI<\/a><\/em> in 2013. \u201cMy dad just turned me off it. He was probably trying to save me a lot of aggro. He genuinely believed that people like us didn\u2019t do things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n More from E! Online<\/strong><\/p>\n But after winning a scholarship to study at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, it wasn\u2019t long before he made his film debut in 1962\u2019s Billy Bud<\/em> and later received an Oscar nomination<\/a> for Best Supporting Actor as well as a Golden Globe<\/a> for Most Promising Male Newcomer.<\/p>\n And luckily, he had friends like Michael Caine<\/a><\/strong> and Peter O\u2019Toole<\/a><\/strong> to help show him the ropes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started the movie, a kind of amazing thing happened because I just discovered that\u2014it was like I knew it,\u201d the actor explained to NPR<\/a><\/em> in 2021. \u201cIt was as though it was absolutely second nature to me. Everything I saw that was new, I understood almost instantaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n (Photo by Tom Wargacki\/WireImage)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n While Stamp made a name for himself as a villain in films like 1965\u2019s The Collector<\/em> and 1967\u2019s Far From the Madding Crowd <\/em>alongside then-girlfriend Julie Christie<\/strong>, he broke expectations in 1994 when he earned nominations for Best Actor at the Golden Globes as well as the BAFTAs<\/a> for his standout performance as a trans woman in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert<\/em>.<\/p>\n ”Cross-dressing has been around at least since Shakespeare,” he told People<\/em> at the time. ”It would be nice if greater androgyny were the next big social development. It would make relationships easier.”<\/p>\n ”I’m sure Hollywood will say, ‘We knew he was a great villain,\u2019\u201d he quipped, \u201c\u2019Now we know he’s got great legs.’\u201d<\/p>\n