Ray Stevenson dies at 58
In his 30-year career, Ray Stevenson portrayed a variety of characters on television and in movies, including a chatty soldier in the HBO historical drama “Rome,” the pirate Blackbeard in the Starz series “Black Sails,” and the Asgardian warrior Volstagg in the fantasy flicks “Thor.” He passed away on Sunday. He was 58.
Nicki Fioravante, his publicist, confirmed his passing but gave no other information. According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Mr. Stevenson passed away while filming a movie on the island of Ischia in Italy.
The Internet Movie Database states that Mr. Stevenson was born on May 25, 1964, in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. When he decided to try acting in his mid-20s, he had already started a career in interior design. The inspiration came from seeing John Malkovich perform in the Lanford Wilson production “Burn This” in the West End of London in the early 1990s.
“I was dumbstruck by John’s performance,” he told the California newspaper The Fresno Bee in 2008. “Everybody else disappeared. I knew at that moment there was something very valid about being an actor.”
He attended the Bristol Old Vic Theater School in England, where he performed in a performance of “Macbeth” in 1993 as the lead character. By the end of the year, he had been cast in a recurring part in the British television series “The Dwelling Place.” Since then, he has continued to work largely steadily.
Mr. Stevenson had guest appearances on a number of British TV shows in the 1990s and the early 2000s, including the crime drama “Band of Gold.” In 2004, he was cast in “King Arthur,” which starred Clive Owen in the main role, and played the knight Dagonet.
Then came “Rome,” a breakout performance in a high-profile HBO series about ancient Rome that represented the network’s effort to develop the third buzz-generating television series following “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos.”
In a 2005 review for The New York Times, Alessandra Stanley described Mr. Stevenson’s character, Titus Pullo, as “a drunken, womanizing lout — a soccer hooligan in sandals.” One of the most endearing subplots on the program included Titus Pullo’s relationship with another Roman soldier, Kevin McKidd, and Mr. Stevenson, a huge guy at 6-foot-4, appeared to be on the edge of something significant.
“He’s kind of George Clooney on steroids,” Chase Squires of The St. Petersburg Times of Florida wrote in 2005. “By the time ‘Rome’ completes its run, the Irish-born English actor will probably be a star, and a very real candidate to replace Russell Crowe when Hollywood gets tired of that actor’s notoriously bad behavior.”
According to Chase Squires of The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, “He’s kind of like George Clooney on steroids,” he described in 2005. “The Irish-born English actor will probably be a star, and a very real one, by the time ‘Rome’ wraps up its run,” But “Rome” failed to last beyond two seasons, and Mr. Stevenson never quite rose to Clooney-like prominence. However, he was able to win a number of substantial parts in expensive productions, such as three Thor films from the Marvel Comics universe: “Thor” (2011), “Thor: The Dark World” (2013), and “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017). They were all huge commercial successes.
He frequently referred to the “Thor” books as “Vikings in space,” and in 2020, he experienced the earthbound equivalent of that existence when he joined the cast of the enduring History channel series “Vikings.” He was there for the entire sixth season.
He also played a mobster in “Kill the Irishman” (2011) and a British colonial officer in the Indian movie “RRR” (2022). He additionally portrayed the Punisher, a vigilante persona based on the comic book character Frank Castle. After Dolph Lundgren portrayed Castle in a 1989 film and Thomas Jane performed the part the following year in “Punisher: War Zone,” he took on the character in 2008.
As A.O. Scott pointed out in his review of the 2008 film in The Times, the film was an orgie of violence.
“Guys get their heads blown off, or severed, or pierced with chair legs, or pulverized with fists,” he wrote, “because that’s what they have coming and that’s what the fan base will pay money to see.”
According to Mr. Stevenson, his persona was meant to be an antihero rather than a hero.
“He really is on a one-way path and in his own hell,” he said. “You don’t want to be Frank Castle.”
Ruth Gemmell, an actress, and Mr. Stevenson’s marriage ended in divorce. He had three kids with Elisabetta Caraccia, his partner.
