Irish-born British actor Ray Stevenson has died 58 years old in the town of Lacco Ameno (Naples, Italy), for reasons that have not yet come to light, according to Variety magazine. Though he began his career in the ’90s, it wasn’t until 2004 that he began to shine with one of the most prominent roles on the HBO series Roma, Legionnaire Tito Pullo, based on the true-life character Tito Pullo, a centurion of the IX. Roman legion mentioned as a fierce fighter by Julius Caesar in his commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Stevenson, who had a residence on the island of Ibiza, would have turned 59 on May 25.
The actor worked in Italy as part of the cast of the film Cassino in Ischia directed by Frank Niota, a ‘neorealist’ action drama in which he spent hours playing the role of Nic Cassino, an action film star reviving his career. According to Italian media, the actor began to feel uncomfortable already on one of the first days of shooting. He was transferred to Rizzolla Hospital, where he died a few days later.
Actor Ray Stevenson as Legionnaire Tito Pullo on the HBO series “Roma”.HBO
George Raymond Stevenson was born in 1964 in the city of Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Although his acting career began as a child, he began working as a designer for an architectural firm before studying acting at the famous Bristol Old Vic Theater. In the 90’s he acted in European series and TV films. His most famous roles were as Tito Pullo in the already mentioned series Roma, as Captain Blackbeard in the pirate series Black Sails or as the Ukrainian gangster Isaac Sirko in the seventh season of Dexter. Other of his notable roles have been in films such as Thor: Ragnarok (as Volstagg), King Arthur (as Dagonet) or The Punisher: War Zone (as the protagonist Frank Castle).
With a large wingspan and a height of 1.93 meters, he focused much of his career on these types of adventure and action characters. “I guess I’m an old warrior at heart. I love humanizing these characters and giving them bodies. I don’t interpret them as historical figures. I interpret them as contemporaries of their time. It’s a pleasure to bring this to life,” he said in an interview with The Action Elite website. His references included tough guys like Lee Marvin or Gene Hackman. Despite everything, he was interested in comedy and characters of all kinds. “I like to make films that do not belong to my target group. I like making films that aren’t just the kind I want to see. I don’t just want projects that are just for my circle of friends. No, that’s not my job as an actor,” he explained.
He recorded his appearance in Ahsoka, the new product in the Star Wars universe, for Disney+. In April he had attended the Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 meeting where he presented some details of his character. He had inherited the role of Kevin Spacey in 1242: The Gateway to the West directed by Péter Soós, a historical drama about Genghis Khan who now has to cast the character for the third time. But his big character, as he confirmed to the backstage website, was the Roman centurion Tito Pulo: “My life changed completely there.”
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