Latest news with #FarFromTheMaddingCrowd
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Letters: Ukrainians just need to look to Crimea to see what reality of a ‘deal' would be
The leader of the pack agrees to stop assaulting you – if you let them keep what they have already taken. They may consider permitting you to install enhanced security measures in the future. Incidentally, life is hell for Ukrainians in Crimea. 'Special measures' and tribunals have been set up to deal with any dissent. How did we get it so wrong? Daniel Smith, Blackrock, Co Dublin The truth is that America keeps getting stronger the longer Putin's war goes on America is winning the war in Ukraine. Russia spends 7.1pc of its GDP on defence, double the US level. Russia has suffered a million casualties; the US arms industry is booming as Europe re-arms. Nato is buying US equipment to send to Ukraine. Russia has lost half its foreign income from oil and gas. The longer the war goes on, the more Russia is weakened and America is strengthened. John Doherty, Gaoth Dobhair, Co Dhún na nGall Expansionist dictators now have a roadmap to getting what they want Reports of Donald Trump's Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, conducted not over hard diplomacy but filet mignon, halibut Olympia and green salad, ought to chill Europe more than amuse it. What is at stake is not the menu, but the spectacle of two men deciding the fate of Ukraine without Ukraine present ('As Trump bows to Putin, Europe must prepare for the worst', Irish Independent, August 18). The wider danger lies in the precedent. If borders and sovereignty can be redrawn in a dinner meeting, international law is reduced to table talk. The extrapolation is clear: once this becomes an acceptable mode of negotiation, other authoritarian leaders will be emboldened to test the same weakness. The prediction is bleaker still. A Ukraine carved up in Alaska may be only the first course. Moldova, the Baltics, even Taiwan, could follow as Moscow and Beijing take note of Washington's willingness to appease under the guise of expedience. Europe, then, must prepare for the worst. To dine with Putin is one thing; to digest his terms is quite another. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Co Armagh When you look at world leaders it's clear that the agenda is someone else's Watching world politicians waffling reminds me of what the British parliamentarian Pitt the Elder said: 'There is something behind the throne greater than the king himself.' John Finegan, Bailieborough, Co Cavan What's in a name? If you can inspire others by example, then quite a lot The recent death of actor Terence Stamp reminds me of his wonderful performance in the movie Far From The Madding Crowd. Sad indeed that fellow actors in that movie, Peter Finch and Alan Bates are also since departed. It's nice to note that the female lead, Julie Christie, is hale and hearty at 85. Indeed by his own admission, singer Tony Christie was so impressed by her, that he adopted her surname. Is there a greater compliment? Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9 Let's not forget – as some have – that the head of State is to remain neutral Fionnán Sheahan writes that should former minister Heather Humphreys decide to enter the race for the Áras, she might be called on to explain 'why she stepped away from politics' recently ('Heather Humphreys is a better candidate but Simon Harris is a liability to campaign', Irish Independent, August 18). One thing is certain, the response from the Monaghan woman will be straight and true. The office of president is 'above politics'. And rightly so. Though there are those who have lost the run of themselves while holding high office, causing no end of concern for our 'ordinary' political masters, as well as for the people they represent. Another contender, it's been widely reported, has expressed 'distrust' of the UK, France and Germany recently. Not a great start for an aspiring head of State. The incumbent has been known to 'cross the constitutional boundary' more than once during his almost 14 years in the Phoenix Park. Let's hope the next holder of the 'highest office' maintains some apolitical equilibrium, save for those times that necessitate presidential intervention. Peter Declan O'Halloran, Belturbet, Co Cavan Eating disorders are often complex to treat, so rising numbers are a big worry It was worrying reading last week that a study found that for under-18s with eating disorders there was a 121pc rise in hospitalisations between 2018 and 2022 – from 170 admissions in 2018 to 375 in 2022 – with a sharp spike during the pandemic. Eating disorders are complex medical conditions that not only affect the young person concerned but also their loved ones, family and friends. It strikes me that wraparound care is essential, requiring an increase in investment at a national level. Not every treatment will work successfully for every person that presents at a hospital, or is diagnosed with an eating disorder. If any reader, or professional working with young people, wants an insight into this issue, I strongly recommend Evanna Lynch's memoir: The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting. It is a harrowing, haunting, honest and unflinching account, and yet a beautifully crafted read that reflects the author's own journey with an eating disorder that she ultimately overcomes. Let us hope these figures do not continue to rise. Stephen O'Hara, Carrowmore, Co Sligo We must be careful of any language that fuels the fire under racist attacks The recent attacks on members of the Indian community are abhorrent. They are also, as noted by many commentators, puzzling, as the Indian community continues to contribute so much to Irish society. The fact that they are puzzling does not make them more abhorrent. All racist attacks are abhorrent, regardless of whether the target community contributes economically or not. Chants of 'Get them Out' at anti-immigration protests may legitimise and encourage these appalling attacks. We all need to be careful with our language and not tolerate any racism, taunts, slurs or 'jokes'.
Spectator
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Terence Stamp bent the Swinging Sixties to his will
There are two famous images of the late Terence Stamp, one taken from one of his films, the other from a photoshoot by Terry O'Neill in 1963. In the first, he is shown in his regimental outfit, in character as the dashing but weak Sergeant Troy from the 1967 adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd, with his inamorata Julie Christie, who played Bathsheba Everdene, beside him. In the second, he is shown looking intensely directly into O'Neill's camera next to another lover of his, the model Jean 'The Shrimp' Shrimpton, in a startlingly modern image that looks as if it could have been taken today. In both cases, Stamp looks like what he was: the single coolest man alive. When people tend to write about the legacy of the Swinging Sixties, it's usually a lazy list of clichés: Carnaby Street, the Beatles, 'Summer of Love', Michael Caine's glasses, long hair, great billowing clouds of marijuana smoke. What should always be on this list is the Kinks' song 'Waterloo Sunset', which is not only one of the greatest singles of the decade, but an ode to Stamp and Christie, specifically in the lyrics 'Terry meets Julie/Waterloo station/Every Friday night' and then 'But Terry and Julie/Cross over the river/Where they feel safe and sound'. Ray Davies, the songwriter, then goes on to suggest, impishly, 'And they don't need no friends/As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset/They are in paradise'. Stamp was perhaps, as one wag dubbed him, 'the most beautiful man in the world', just as Christie had fair claim to be the most beautiful woman of her time. Yet while her career prospered and she rose in global acclaim throughout the Sixties, her one-time paramour seemed largely uninterested in fame and celebrity. He turned down the lead role in Alfie, which made his former flatmate Caine a superstar, and picked and chose the kind of parts that led to critical acclaim without making him a great deal of money, such as the obsessed lead in the John Fowles adaptation The Collector and Ken Loach's first foray into cinema, Poor Cow. It was somehow typical of Stamp that, offered the role of James Bond when Sean Connery quit the series, he refused and instead went to Italy to star in Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit, an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation. Then, tiring of the acting life altogether, he disappeared off to India for the best part of a decade in order to live on an ashram and explore an altogether simpler, meditative existence. For largely financial reasons, Stamp was coerced back into acting with the Superman pictures, in which he was amusingly arch as the baddie General Zod, and thereafter found a second career as an elder statesman in often undistinguished projects. If you'd seen the BBC's recent adaptation of His Dark Materials, there's Stamp in a small role, just as he popped up as a galactic politician in the deathly dull Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Yet when he was given a good script and a good director, as he was with Steven Soderbergh's The Limey and the riotous cross-dressing comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, he was still magnificent, channelling all the energy, gravitas and eccentricity that he had shown from early on in his career. Still, it is not for his latter-day work that Stamp will ultimately be remembered, but for his iconic and legendary presence in that most myth-laden and misunderstood of decades. Many of the greatest people in the twentieth century did much of their best work throughout the Swinging Sixties, but Terence Stamp, that bloody-minded and deeply individualistic actor, did not so much define the decade as bend it to his will. And that is an accomplishment that you imagine most of his peers would have given up vast amounts of their success to match.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Terence Stamp, a kid from London's East End, appeared in all the right films for all the right directors
Ray Davies , writer of The Kinks' indestructible Waterloo Sunset, has, in recent decades, denied that a key line refers to Terence Stamp and Julie Christie . The myth, however, is so intoxicating that the world will continue to believe. 'Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night,' Davies sang in 1967. 'As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset I am in paradise.' This was the same year Stamp, who has died at the age of 87 , appeared opposite Christie in John Schlesinger's magnificent (and magnificently groovy) take on Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. Filmed in gorgeous, misty colours by cinematographer Nic Roeg , Stamp, as Sergeant Frank Troy, did almost as much for vintage military chic as did the precisely contemporaneous Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He and Christie, romantically linked off camera, were the age's signature couple: suave, casual, informal, staggeringly good-looking. Nobody better represented how, as the second World War receded into history, British youth shook off imperial chains and embraced colour and possibility. Stamp, a working-class kid from London's East End, was in all the right films for all the right directors. He won best actor at Cannes for William Wyler's The Collector in 1965. He was in spy romp Modesty Blaise for Joseph Losey. He was in Poor Cow for Ken Loach. He was sinister in Teorema for Pier Paolo Pasolini. The chiselled actor drifted away from the limelight in the early 1970s, but kept stubbornly returning for clever comebacks. Fascistic as General Zod in the Superman films. A charismatic gangster opposite John Hurt and Tim Roth in Stephen Frears's The Hit from 1984. Camp as chicory coffee in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert from 1994. Last seen referencing his own 1960s shapes in Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho from 2021, Stamp aged enviably into a foxy version of the man he had been when Waterloo Sunset was in the top five. READ MORE Terence Henry Stamp was born in Stepney as the eldest of five children (his brother Chris famously managed The Who). Stamp's dad, a tugboat stoker, had trouble getting his head around the lad's career. 'He genuinely believed that people like us didn't do things like that,' Stamp told Sight and Sound in 2013. 'He was a stoker, for Christ's sake.' When the 1960s ended, I just ended with it. I remember my agent telling me: 'They are all looking for a young Terence Stamp' With dad away from home a great deal, Terence was largely raised by the women of the family – mum, gran, aunts. A smart kid, he first found himself in the other emblematic profession of the 1960s: working his way up the advertising business. He eventually won a scholarship to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in South Kensington and built on that training in repertory theatre. These early years sharing a flat with Michael Caine – and partying with Peter O'Toole – later took on the quality of legend. Terence Stamp attends the memorial service of Sir Peter Ustinov, held at the St-Martin-In-The-Fields church, Trafalgar Square, central London, in November 2004. Photograph: Edmond Terakopian/PA 'The young Michael Caine was a joy to be with,' Stamp said. 'We had lots of wonderful times. I'm sure he wasn't trying to educate me, but he did. I was very new to showbiz, and he was a whole era older than me and had been in the business a lot.' Stamp landed spectacularly with a feature debut as the impossibly good looking title character in Peter Ustinov's 1962 take on Herman Melville's nautical drama Billy Budd. The Oscar nomination that came his way confirmed the arrival of a supernatural force. Stamp then cleverly positioned a toe in all streams of the Swinging Sixties. He did social realism in Poor Cow. He did camp glam in Modesty Blaise. He showed a taste for arthouse with his chilling performance as sinister visitor to a bourgeois Italian family in Teorem. But that turn in Far From The Madding Crowd is surely the standout. It matters not a whit – indeed it is part of the appeal – that Stamp and Christie, though playing characters from the mid-19th century, looked to have stepped straight from Carnaby Street of a century later. [ Four new films to see this week: Materialists, Together, Night Always Comes and Oslo Stories: Love Opens in new window ] 'On the set, the fact that she had been my girlfriend just never came up,' Stamp said of Christie in 2015. 'I saw her as Bathsheba, the character she was playing, who all the men in the film fell in love with. But it wasn't hard, with somebody like Julie.' In that same interview with the Guardian, he pondered how his fame withered round about the time the Beatles broke up. This didn't happen to Michael Caine. It didn't happen to Julie Christie. [ Mel Gibson: 'I've still got the Irish passport... I think I understand the quirky nature of the Irish mind' Opens in new window ] 'It's a mystery to me. I was in my prime,' Stamp said. 'When the 1960s ended, I just ended with it. I remember my agent telling me: 'They are all looking for a young Terence Stamp.'' The older Terence Stamp (still in his early 30s) reacted by taking a massive worldwide trip that eventually brought him to India. The rumour goes that, when the offer came, in 1976, to play the villain in Superman, it was addressed to 'Clarence Stamp'. He never equalled the famously (often ill-advisedly) Stakhanovite work rate of Caine, but Stamp continued to secure decent roles at regular intervals. He finally married, at the age of 64, in 2002, but was divorced from Elizabeth O'Rourke, an Australian some decades his junior, just six years later. Whatever Ray Davies might claim, Stamp (and Christie, still with us at 85) will always remain the immortal lovers in the magical normality of Waterloo Sunset. 'I've heard from some people that Ray Davies is now denying it,' Stamp said in 2013. 'But my brother Chris told me that Ray told him that when he wrote those lines he was picturing Julie Christie and myself. In the headlines, we were like the young people of the day. So, I was very flattered by that.'
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
How Terence Stamp rose from working class to Hollywood stardom – & being name-checked in one of greatest pop songs ever
He clung on to a feeling that 'the call would come' — but the wait was a long one WORKING CLASS COOL How Terence Stamp rose from working class to Hollywood stardom – & being name-checked in one of greatest pop songs ever THERE can be no cooler claim to fame than to be name-checked in one of the greatest pop songs ever written. Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks, released at the height of the Swinging Sixties, featured a couple referred to only by their first names — Terry and Julie. 10 Terence Stamp with lover Julie Christie in 1967's Far From The Madding Crowd Credit: Alamy 10 Down the boozer with drinking buddy Michael Caine, who he shared a flat with in London before they found fame Credit: Alamy Advertisement 10 Stamp in Paris for the premiere of comedy-drama Song For Marion in 2013 Credit: Getty - Contributor Julie was Julie Christie, the drop-dead gorgeous actress, and Terry was Terence Stamp, her real-life boyfriend. The accomplished actor died yesterday morning, aged 87, and last night his family led the tributes to him. They said in a statement: 'He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come.' Advertisement Along with a handful of other leading men from humble backgrounds such as Michael Caine and Albert Finney, Stamp epitomised a new breed of screen star. Ruggedly handsome, uncompromising and from a tough working-class background, he shot to fame with his first movie. But as the Sixties drew to a close, it looked as though the sun was also setting on his career — and it was almost a decade before he triumphantly reappeared. The oldest of five children, he was born Terence Henry Stamp on July 22, 1938, in Bow, East London, to mother Ethel and father Thomas, a £12-a-week tugboat stoker. Advertisement 'I was in pain. I took drugs – everything' That made him, according to the saying, a genuine Cockney — 'born within the sound of Bow bells'. His first home had no bathroom, only a tub in the backyard which he would be dragged into on Friday evenings. He later remembered: 'The first one in would get second-degree burns — and the last one frostbite.' Superman defeats General Zod, played by Terence Stamp, in Superman II In 2016, he said of his childhood: 'The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning. We were really poor. 'I couldn't tell anybody that I wanted to be an actor because it was just out of the question. I would have been laughed at. Advertisement 'When we got our first TV, I started saying, 'Oh I could do that' and my dad wore it for a little bit. 'After I'd said, 'Oh I'm sure I could do better than that guy', he looked at me and he said, 'Son, people like us don't do things like that'.' As an 18-year-old, he tried to evade National Service — a year and a half of compulsory duty in the military — by claiming to have nosebleeds but was saved when he failed his medical because of fallen arches. Determined to realise his dream, Stamp left home and moved into a basement flat on London's Harley Street with another promising young Cockney actor — Michael Caine. The pair became firm friends and ended up in repertory theatre, touring around the UK together. 10 Stamp in the title role of his first hit, 1962's Billy Budd Advertisement 10 In the 1966 spy comedy Modesty Blaise with Monica Vitti Credit: Alamy 10 Stamp as an alien in Superman II with Sarah Douglas and Jack O' Halloran Credit: Alamy Stamp's performances soon brought him to the attention of acclaimed writer and director Peter Ustinov, who gave him the lead role in the 1962 historical drama movie Billy Budd. He was an overnight success. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he also won the hearts of millions of female fans. And with his first Hollywood pay cheque, the image-conscious actor celebrated by buying himself a Savile Row suit and bleaching his hair blond. Stamp heeded the career advice Ustinov gave him — to only accept job offers when something he really wanted came his way. Advertisement That may explain why he made only ten movies between 1962 and 1977. His most famous role was as Sergeant Troy in Far From The Madding Crowd in 1967 — where he met and fell in love with co-star Julie Christie. While Stamp was fast becoming a screen icon, his younger brother Chris was making waves in the music biz. I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything Terence Stamp Stamp Junior managed The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and was friends with many music legends of the time. Talking about The Kinks' classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: 'My brother was quite friendly with him. Advertisement 'He asked Ray Davies about that lyric and Ray Davies told my brother that, yes, he was visualising Julie and me when he wrote the lyric.' But by the end of the decade, Stamp's career was on the wane — and he was devastated when his 'Face of the Sixties' model girlfriend Jean Shrimpton walked out on him — beginning what he called his 'lost years'. He said: 'I'd lost the only thing I thought was permanent. 'The revelation came to me then — nothing is permanent, so what was the point trying to maintain a permanent state? 10 Stamp as tough ex-con Wilson in Steven Soderbergh's 1999 crime thriller The Limey Credit: Imagenet Advertisement 10 Stamp with Guy Pearce, left, and Hugo Weaving in Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert Credit: Alamy 10 Stamp in 1964 with model Jean Shrimpton, who left him devastated when she ended their three-year relationship Credit: Getty 'I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything.' He clung on to a feeling that 'the call would come' — but the wait was a long one. It finally came in 1977 when he was offered the part of General Zod in Superman. Advertisement He took it — mainly because it gave him the chance to appear alongside his acting hero Marlon Brando. The part brought him to the attention of a new audience — and last night fans paid tribute to his portrayal of the banished alien villain. In a nod to his role as the evil leader who demanded his enemies show him deference, one fan wrote on X: 'Thank you Terry . . . we will kneel today in your honour.' Another wrote: 'Terence Stamp was much more than Zod but at the same time one of the best comic book villains ever.' 'My present was a box of Star Wars stencils' Making up for lost time after the 1978 release of Superman, Stamp made dozens of films from then until 2021, showing off his huge range. Advertisement He won universal praise for his portrayal of an East End villain in The Limey (1999) and transgender woman Bernadette Bassenger in The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. Stamp also played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace, although the director George Lucas did not give him a huge payday. He once cornered a producer during the shoot and complained about the pay. He recalled: 'I said, 'Listen, you're not paying much money and it's making hundreds of millions. What goes down? What happens?' 'She said, 'If the actors are really good, George gives them a present'. 'I thought, ooh, that's all right. So when I leave the studio I go into my dressing room and there's a box. It was a box of Star Wars stencils. Advertisement 'That was my present. I just couldn't believe it. I thought, may the Force be with you, George. I didn't keep my stencils. I left them in the dressing room.' Around that time, he said: 'I moved from England some time ago because I wasn't getting any work. 'I'm getting work in America and my films appear in France but for some reason I'm not getting any offers in Britain.' But he kept himself busy by launching a successful parallel career as an author, writing five bestselling memoirs and two cookbooks. He continued to select interesting roles and made a series of memorable cameo appearances, most recently, in 2021, in Edgar Wright's psychological thriller Last Night In Soho. Advertisement 10 Talking about The Kinks' classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: 'My brother was quite friendly with him' Credit: Supplied Although he dated some of the world's most beautiful women, including Julie Christie, Brigitte Bardot and sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, he married only once — to Elizabeth O'Rourke. The pharmacist was 35 years his junior and the marriage lasted from 2002 to 2008. He admitted he was upset by the split but added: 'I always said I'll try anything once, other than incest or Morris dancing. 'I'd never been married and I thought I would try it, but I couldn't make a go of it.' Advertisement Looking back on his career, he once said: 'I'd be lying if I said I was completely indifferent to the success of all my contemporaries. There are parts I would love to have had a stab at, but I see the decisions I made as invaluable. 'I'm not just chasing an Oscar. I am learning how to die — how to build something within myself that does not become dust.'
Sky News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Terence Stamp, Superman villain and star of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, has died
British actor Terence Stamp - who famously played General Zod in Superman and Superman II - has died at the age of 87. The Oscar-nominated actor, who was born in London's East End, also starred in hits such as Theorem, A Season in Hell, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He formed one of Britain's most glamorous couples with Julie Christie, with whom he starred in Far From the Madding Crowd in 1967. In a statement his family said he died on Sunday morning, adding: "He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come." Please refresh the page for the latest version.
