Terence Stamp

Terence Stamp portrayed General Zod in Superman: The Movie, Superman II, and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. He also voiced Jor-El in TV's Smallville and its TV movie Smallville: Finale.

Significant roles[]

Billy Budd in Billy Budd (1962)
Dave Fuller in Poor Cow (1967)
Alain in Striptease (1976)
General Zod in Superman: The Movie (1978)
Henry in Amo non amo (1979)
General Zod in Superman II (1980)
David Audley in Chessgame (1983)
Victor Taft in Legal Eagles (1986)
Jack Schmidt in The Real McCoy (1993)
Baltazar in Bliss (1997)
Chancellor Valorem in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Ramsley in The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Jor-El in Smallville (2003-2011)
Stick in Elektra (2005)
Pekwarsky in Wanted (2008)
Siegfried in Get Smart (2008)
Terrence Bundley in Yes Man (2008)

Quotes[]

"There are certain films that change your life. I hadn’t worked for about 10 years when I got the Superman offer and I was very nervous because it was apparent that they just wanted like an ugly and I had the feeling that they were going to just like me ugly and dress me ugly and give me ugly stuff to say. And I had a friend at the time, he was a Baron, a Dutch Baron, he was called Frederick von Pallandt and he was a very wise guy. He was a bit older than me. And I said, “I’m having doubts about this.” And he said, “You shouldn’t really have doubts about it because for loads of kids, Superman movies will be the first movie they ever go to see. And by the time they grow up, there’ll be more people who want to be like Zod than Superman. So you really shouldn’t worry about it. You should just be as ugly and as horrible as you can be.” And it kind of came to pass, you know."
"Not really. I mean, I will see it... But for me, it was my comeback movie. I’d been out of work for eight years and living in India. I was a swami in an ashram, with long hair and a beard, and I was in orange. When the work had stopped I kept thinking next week will be a job, next month will be a job. And then I was travelling and learning all these metaphysical techniques and breathing and tantra and finally I got to an ashram in Pune and it seemed like the most beautiful women from every country in the world were there, and they were all totally empowered [twinkle which allows us to know precisely what he means by “empowered”]. So then I let go, I thought no, I won’t go back to showbiz, this is my life now."
"Oh wow. Well, I’m sure he’s going to be fantastic because it’s a fantastic role. All I can say is he needs to be very present. When I walked onto that set I’d been an ashram for a year, learning to separate orgasm from ejaculation. I was rechannelling the lifeforce and I hadn’t been working, and when I walked on the set, it seemed like everyone was asleep, but I was so, so ready. The only guy who was really up for it was Brando -- he totally understood where I was coming from."
"I spent an hour and a half driving down here from Ojai, and the first thing I wanted to do when I got out was take a leak. I go into the men's bathroom and there's a whole load of guys – obviously, Man of Steel had just turned out. So I take a pee, and I start washing my hands, and there's about 10 or 12 guys there, and they're talking about Man Of Steel One says, 'Well, I don't know. If they'd have, like, peeled the buildings off the screen I wouldn't have been surprised, you know?' Another says, 'It was all so loud.' Then the guy down at the other end, who was only a little guy, said, 'Yeah, yeah!' And he said 'It really wasn't as good as the first one, was it?' I just couldn't resist, I said, 'You're a very discerning man.' And as soon as they heard the voice they said, [screaming] 'Oh my God! It's General Zod!' "