Ray Stevenson, who has played a variety of television and film roles over his 30-year career, including a talkative soldier on the HBO historical drama Rome, the pirate Blackbeard on the Starz series Black Sails, and the Asgardian warrior Volstagg in the Thor fantasy films passed away on Sunday. He was 58.
His publicist, Nicki Fioravante, confirmed his death but gave no further details. Italian newspaper La Repubblica said Mr Stevenson died on the Italian island of Ischia, where he was filming a film.
According to the Internet Movie Database, Mr Stevenson was born on May 25, 1964 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He had started a career as an interior designer when, in his mid-20s, he decided to try acting. The trigger was the sight of John Malkovich in the Lanford Wilson play Burn This in London’s West End in the early 1990s.
“I was stunned by John’s performance,” he told California newspaper The Fresno Bee in 2008. “Everyone else disappeared.” In that moment, I knew there was something very valuable about being an actor.”
He studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School in England, where he played the title role in a 1993 production of Macbeth. Before the end of the year, he landed a recurring role in the British miniseries The Dwelling Place. Since then he had worked more or less steadily.
During the 1990s and early 2000s Mr Stevenson appeared in various British television series including the crime drama Band of Gold. He landed his first major film role in 2004 playing the knight Dagonet in King Arthur, starring Clive Owen in the title role.
Then came Rome, a breakthrough role in a high-budget HBO series about ancient Rome, which was the network’s attempt to create the next big-picture series after Sex and the City and The Sopranos.
Mr. Stevenson’s character, Titus Pullo, was, as Alessandra Stanley put it in a 2005 review in The New York Times, “a drunken, womanizing lout—a soccer hooligan in sandals.” Titus Pullo’s friendship with another Roman soldier was among the most appealing subplots of the series, and Mr. Stevenson, a tall man of 1.90 meters, appeared to be on the verge of something big.
“He’s sort of a George Clooney on steroids,” wrote Chase Squires of the St. Petersburg Times of Florida in 2005. “By the time ‘Rome’ completes its run, the Irish-born English actor will likely be a star, and a star at that.” very real candidate to replace Russell Crowe when Hollywood grows tired of this actor’s notoriously bad behavior.”
But Rome fell apart after two seasons, and Mr. Stevenson never quite achieved Clooneyesque stature. However, he landed a number of significant roles in lavish projects, including three films set in the Marvel Comics universe: Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017). . All three were box office hits.
He often referred to the “Thor” stories as “Vikings in space,” and in 2020 he got a taste of the earthbound version of that life when he joined the cast of the long-running history TV series Vikings. He appeared throughout season six.
His other roles included a gangster in the 2011 film Kill the Irishman and a British colonial official in the Indian film RRR (2022). He also played vigilante Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher, another character based on a comic book. He landed that role in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone, after Dolph Lundgren played Castle in a 1989 film and Thomas Jane reprized his role in 2004.
The 2008 film was an orgy of violence, as noted by AO Scott in his review in The Times.
“Guys get their heads blown off, or they get severed, or they get gored with chair legs, or pulverized with fists,” he wrote, “because that’s what they’re in for and the fandom will pay money to see it.” “
His character, Mr. Stevenson told The Oklahoman, was not intended to be a hero but an antihero.
“He’s really on a one-sided path and in his own hell,” he said. “You don’t want to be Frank Castle.”
Mr Stevenson’s marriage to actress Ruth Gemmell ended in divorce. He and his partner Elisabetta Caraccia had three children.