After his haunting appearance as an adult man revived after three decades from a coma he had lapsed into at birth in THE MIND OF MR. SOAMES (1970), Stamp appeared in relatively few films during the 1970s. He has since re-established himself, primarily as a character actor; he played the arch-villainous General Dru-Zod in SUPERMAN (1978) and SUPERMAN II (1980) and the sequestered informer whose time has run out in Stephen Frears' offbeat thriller, THE HIT (1984). Hollywood in the 80s and 90s featured him prominently in several generally mediocre films, usually typecast as a villain: LEGAL EAGLES (1986), WALL STREET (1987), ALIEN NATION (1988) and THE REAL MCCOY (1993). An exception in casting if not quality was his kindly rancher in YOUNG GUNS (1988). An exceptional role and a performance to boot came for the veteran actor with THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (1994), an art-house hit with Stamp's quietly underplayed transsexual receiving uniformly wonderful notices and lending a certain dignity the playful film might not otherwise have achieved.
More recent screen appearances include THE LIMEY (1999), STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999, as Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum), BOWFINGER (1999), RED PLANET (2000), REVELATION (2001), FULL FRONTAL and THE KISS (both 2002), MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER and THE HAUNTED MANSION (both 2003), DEAD FISH (2004), ELEKTRA (2005), SEPTERMBER DAWN, THE FOOLISH THINGS and 9/11: THE TWIN TOWERS (all 2006), KAMAGATA MAN (2007), and GET SMART and STREETLIGHT (both 2008).
Nominated for Supporting Actor 1962: BILLY BUDD
1 nomination