British actor Ray Stevenson, known for his performances in the Thor and Divergent film franchises as well as last year’s Indian Oscar contender RRR, has died at 58 years old.
Stevenson reportedly died in Italy on Sunday (May 21), though no other details of his death have been revealed. He had recently been working on Italian action film Cassino in Ischia.
Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1964, Stevenson attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and began working on British television productions such as Waking the Dead, Band of Gold and Peak Practice.
He broke through in international film with Disney’s 2004 King Arthur and subsequently appeared in films including The Book of Eli, Marvel’s 2011 Thor and its two sequels, and 2014 sci-fi tale Divergent and its two follow-ups.
In television, Stevenson was one of the stars of HBO’s 2005 series Rome and also had roles in Dexter, Vikings and Das Boot. This summer he will be seen in the Disney+ Star Wars spin-off series Ahsoka.
Stevenson was most recently cast as the lead in historical drama 1242: Gateway to the West, reportedly stepping into the role originally set to be played by Kevin Spacey.
Among those paying tribute to Stevenson on Twitter was Book of Eli writer Gary Whitta, who described the actor as “a fellow Brit and an absolute gent. Actors aren’t always friendly or approachable while they’re shooting but Ray always had time to chat and never failed to be gracious and kind.”
Rome co-star James Purefoy wrote that Stevenson was “A brilliant, gutsy, larger-than-life actor who filled every part he played right up to the brim.”
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