Ray Stevenson
☼ Born on 25 December 1964, in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, UK
† Died on 21 December 2023, in Ischia, Italy, cause undisclosed
Biography
An imposing figure (standing at 6'3") with intense, penetrating eyes and possessed of a larger-than-life personality, the actor George Raymond Stevenson began life as one of three sons, born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to a British pilot in the Royal Air Force. Raised near Newcastle in England after the family relocated, he initially studied art and worked for some time as an interior designer. However, after seeing a play with John Malkovich at the West End, Stevenson became inspired to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. By the time of his graduation in 1993, he had already made his debut on the stage at the Barbican Theatre in London in the plays Temptation and Revenger's Tragedy.
He made his first recurring screen appearances in the TV crime drama Band of Gold (1995) (acting alongside his future wife Ruth Gemmell) and as DI Tony Baynham in the BBC procedural police series City Central (1998), which was briefly touted as a rival to The Bill (1984). Though Stevenson first attracted international attention as a dependable Knight of the Round Table in the motion picture King Arthur (2004), it was his charismatic performance as the rascally, hedonistic soldier Titus Pullo in HBO's historical series Rome (2005) which truly put him on the map.
More vigorous or pugnacious warrior roles soon came his way, beginning with a starring turn as the titular anti-hero vigilante Frank Castle in the ultra-violent Punisher: War Zone (2008), for which Stevenson put himse
(click to expand)
lf through strenuous martial arts and weapons training under the direction of U.S. Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) Marines. Among his subsequent gallery of colourful characters were the powerful Asgardian warrior Volstagg in Marvel's Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017); the relentless enforcer Redridge in The Book of Eli (2010); an Irish mobster challenging the Cleveland Mafia for control of the city's criminal underworld in Kill the Irishman (2011); Porthos, one of the The Three Musketeers (2011); the much feared Blackbeard in Starz's excellent swashbuckling Black Sails (2014), and the enigmatic Anglo-Saxon missionary and explorer Othere in Vikings (2013).
Stevenson reserved one of the most compelling performances for the strangely sympathetic Russian gangster Isaak Sirko, chief antagonist in season seven of Dexter (2006), overshadowing even that of the star Michael C. Hall (definitely no mean feat!). Add to that another acting standout as the obsessed, revenge-driven Commander Jack Swinburne in the German-produced World War II drama series Das Boot (2018).
Having first joined the Star Wars universe as a voice actor (the Mandalorian Gar Saxon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)), Stevenson was later cast in the villainous role of dark Force user Baylan Skoll doing battle with the indomitable Ahsoka (2023) Tano (Rosario Dawson), complete with orange/red lightsaber. Stevenson said in a 2020 interview that he had drawn much of his inspiration from veteran tough guys like Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman: "Never a bad performance, and brave and fearless within that caliber. It was never the young, hot leading man; it was men who I could identify with."
Tragically, this supremely accomplished and charismatic actor died in Italy on 21 May 2023 while filming Cassino in Ischia (2024), in which he was cast as a fading movie action hero attempting to revive his career. At the time of his passing he was just 58.
In the role of actor
RRR (06/12/2022)
The lives of two Indian revolutionaries cross paths in RRR. In 1920 during the British Raj, Govoner Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody) forcibly abduct a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) from the Gond tribe in Adilabad. Malli’s brother Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) travels to Delhi to rescue […]
Cold Skin (16/07/2018)
A man is stationed on an island inhabited by amphibious creatures in Cold Skin. In the fall of 1914, a young man (David Oakes) sails to an isolated island in the Antarctic to survey the weather. The only other person on the island is the crazed lighthouse keeper Gruner (Ray Stevenson), who is less than welcoming […]
Big Game (10/07/2015)
The President of the United States relies on a 13 year old Finnish boy for survival in the action/adventure Big Game. Oskari (Onni Tommila) is a boy in Northern Finland, who is sent out into the wilderness on a coming-of-age hunting trip. He comes across the escape pod of US President William Allen Moore (Samuel L. […]
Big Game (06/09/2014)
The President of the United States relies on a 13 year old Finnish boy for survival in the action/adventure Big Game. Oskari (Onni Tommila) is a boy in Northern Finland, who is sent out into the wilderness on a coming-of-age hunting trip. He comes across the escape pod of US President William Allen Moore (Samuel […]
Thor: The Dark World (18/11/2013)
The God of Thunder returns in Thor: The Dark World. While investigating on anomaly in London, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) comes in contact with an ancient weapon, known as the Aether, which absorbs into her body. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) arrives and takes Jane with him back to Asgard, in the hopes that his father Odin […]
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (30/03/2013)
Continuing more or less where the previous film let off, G.I. Joe: Retaliation finds the G.I. Joe team betrayed by U.S. government, which has been taken over by Cobra. The surviving Joes, including Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), and Snake Eyes (Ray Park), set off to stop the world domination […]
The Three Musketeers (2011) (23/10/2011)
The classic novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is probably one of the most adapted stories of all time and this is about the third high profile adaption that was made in my lifetime. When comparing this film to the others, I probably like it better than 2001’s The Musketeer, but this film doesn’t really hold […]
Thor (08/05/2011)
Ever since the release of Iron Man in 2008, most of the Marvel comics films have been building up to the release of The Avengers next year. It’s a pretty unprecedented move, since, by the time it’s released, The Avengers would have been built up by five films over a four year period. The latest of these lead-up films is […]
The Other Guys (08/08/2010)
Of the two buddy cop movies to be released this year, I am inclined to say that I prefer Cop Out to this one. While the critics absolutely loathed Kevin Smith‘s film, at least it had a clear intention what it was out to do. As for The Other Guys, I am still trying to […]