A Look Back at the Late Terence Stamp’s Iconic Loves—Julie Christie to Jean Shrimpton and Princess Diana
The actor, who just died at age 87, was one of the 1960s' most charismatic leading men
Terence Stamp, who died on August 17 at age 87, had an eclectic, decades-long career, with memorable roles in everything from arthouse films to blockbusters. The British actor, who was known for his performances in films like Billy Budd (1962), The Collector (1965), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), first emerged on the scene as an It Boy of the ’60s Swinging London scene, and with his piercing blue eyes and self-assured screen presence, it’s no surprise that he was romantically linked to some of the most gorgeous stars of the era.
Read on to take a look at the late, great actor’s relationships with supermodels and fellow movie stars and his later-in-life marriage.
Terence Stamp and Julie Christie: The swinging ’60s romance that inspired a popular song
Terence Stamp and Julie Christie’s early ’60s romance may have been brief, but it captured the spirit of the era. The Doctor Zhivago actress first caught Stamp’s attention when he saw her provocatively posing with a gun on the cover of a magazine, and the two up-and-coming stars started their relationship around 1962—the year Stamp made his debut in Billy Budd.
While Stamp and Christie were together for just a year, the British stars were in the same social and professional circles, and in 1967 they costarred in the period drama Far From the Madding Crowd. Even though they were both in relationships with other people by the time the movie was filmed, they still had major onscreen chemistry. That year, the former couple was also immortalized in the classic Kinks song “Waterloo Sunset,” which featured lyrics about lovers named Terry and Julie.
Stamp and Christie remained friends, and in a 2015 interview with The Guardian, he reflected fondly on his relationship with her, saying, “It was before we were both famous: we met, and we had a romance. That was it. When I got my first movie, I knew it was my destiny to be a film actor, so that became my motivation in life. On the set [of Far From the Madding Crowd], the fact that she had been my girlfriend just never came up. 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.”
An awkward encounter with Brigitte Bardot
After starring in Far From the Madding Crowd, Stamp had a fling with French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot, but he later quipped, “She was probably the most desirable woman I had ever seen but I can’t say it went well because we didn’t have a language in common.”
The love of Terence Stamp’s life: Mod supermodel Jean Shrimpton
As the ’60s continued, Stamp dated model Jean Shrimpton. Shrimpton was one of the most photographed women of her day and when she and Stamp were an item, the British press went wild, as the two charismatic celebrities embodied the stylish and youthful energy of the mod era.
The relationship didn’t last, and Stamp told The Standard, “I was driven. It was my fault. She didn’t leave me for no reason. She left me because she saw I was a lunatic. I wasn’t ready for a twin-soul relationship.”
Long after their breakup, when asked about his happiest moment, Stamp poignantly said, “The first time I kissed Jean Shrimpton! It was in Hollywood in 1964. Just to lay eyes on her was a joy. We were together for three years. She was the love of my life. Definitely.”
Terence Stamp’s friendship with Princess Diana
In the ’70s, Stamp’s career slowed down somewhat, but he came back in a big way when he played the villainous General Zod in Superman and its sequel. In the ’80s, he struck up a friendship with none other than Princess Diana, and while there were rumors about them having an affair, the actor denied them, stating, “We were just really good chums, yet I still get asked questions alluding to something more.”
In a 2017 Daily Mail interview, he spoke candidly about his friendship with the Princess, saying, “I saw the sadness in her because she’d gone into her marriage believing—she was a believer in the marriage and all that. And it didn’t turn out the way she expected it to . . . She just wanted somebody to talk to that was a guy, who would give her objective opinions.”
A later-in-life marriage—and divorce
Stamp didn’t get married until 2002, when he was 64. He met his wife, Elizabeth O’Rourke, by chance at a pharmacy where she worked in the mid-’90s. Unlike his previous partners, O’Rourke, who was over 30 years the actor’s junior, wasn’t a public figure. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2008.
In his interview with The Standard, Stamp said, “I was married and I can’t call that a mistake. But I am set in my ways. I have never been in a relationship where the silence was mutual. And being lonely for me isn’t the same as other people understand it.”
Stamp never had any children, but said he had no regrets about this decision, observing, “What I’ve noticed in the past ten years or so is that I’m really enjoying the kids of my nieces in a way that a grandfather would. It is a great joy to me . . . I don’t have regrets at all,” in his Daily Mail interview.
Terence Stamp will be missed, but his ’60s relationships, which are almost as iconic as his movie roles, will live on.
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