Ray Stevenson, Volstagg of The Warriors Three In 'Thor', Has Died At 58
Ray Stevenson, Volstagg of The Warriors Three In 'Thor', Has Died At 58
The actor was in Italy working on his next film, and will soon be seen in 'Ahsoka'
Ray Stevenson, the bulky Brit who recently played the incredibly evil governor Scott Buxton in the Oscar-winning Indian megasmash RRR, has died at the age of 58. He might be best known for starring as Volstagg, one of the Warriors Three in the first three Thor films.
According to his publicist, Stevenson died Sunday. Born May 25, 1964 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, his death comes just short of his 59th birthday on Thursday. La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper, reported he had been hospitalized on the island of Ischia while working on the Frank Ciota-directed film Cassino on Ischia, production on which had only recently begun. The film is about an aging action movie star who seeks to reinvigorate his career by going to Italy to make an edgy film only for him to have to deal with family drama. The actor is said to have had an imposing onscreen presence at a height of 6-foot-3. He commanded attention when he made his appearance at Star Wars Celebration last month, in attendance for his now-posthumous role as antagonist Baylan Skoll in the upcoming Ahsoka series. Skoll is a former Jedi who survived Order 66 and is said to be allied with the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn. He had also just been cast He was also recently cast in another movie, 1242: Gateway to the West, where he, replacing Kevin Spacey, will himself now be replaced.
He expressed how thrilled he was to have the role, saying “Getting to wield the lightsaber is just the best feeling in the world. The first time they handed it to me for the camera test, I couldn’t help myself, I made the noise.” Stevenson’s film debut came as a gigolo in Paul Greengrass’ 1998 film The Theory of Flight, starring Helena Bonham Carter, while his first major TV role came that year as detective inspector Tony Baynham on the BBC police procedural City Central for its first two seasons until 1999. He gained recognition to American audiences as the charming and morally questionable soldier Titus Pullo on the HBO series Rome, which ran from 2005 to 2007. The next year, he starred in his first Marvel Comics adaptation, Punisher: War Zone as Frank Castle, the Punisher himself. After becoming Volstagg, he would pop up in 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation as Firefly and in The Divergent Series’s Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant as Marcus Eaton.
He also appeared in such films as King Arthur as the Knight Dagonet, Outpost, Kill the Irishman, Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, Jayne Mansfield’s Car, Big Game, and last year’s Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday. From 2016 to 2017, he portrayed Blackbeard on the Michael Bay-produced Starz series Black Sails and Othere on History’s Vikings’ sixth and final season in 2020. He is survived by his three children, Sebastiano, Leonardo, and Lodovico.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter