Ray Stevenson, Actor in Punisher: War Zone, Rome and Thor Films, Dies at 58
Ray Stevenson, the burly British actor who starred as Volstagg in the
Thor movies and as the brutally evil governor in the recent Oscar-winning Indian hit
RRR, has died. He was 58.
Stevenson died Sunday, four days shy of his birthday, his publicist Nicki Fioravante told
The Hollywood Reporter. The Italian newspaper
La Repubblica reported he had been hospitalized on the island of Ischia while in production on the film
Cassino on Ischia, directed by Frank Ciota.
No other details of his death were immediately available.
The 6-foot-3 actor was an imposing presence onscreen and commanded attention when he took to the stage in April for a public appearance at Star Wars Celebration in London. He is one of the main antagonists in the upcoming
Star Wars series
Ahsoka.
“Getting to wield the light saber is just the best feeling in the world,” he said then. “The first time they handed it to me for the camera test, I couldn’t help myself, I made the noise.”
Stevenson became known to U.S. audiences as the charming, if morally questionable, soldier Titus Pullo on the big-budget 2005-07 HBO series
Rome.
A year after that series ended, he was onscreen in
Punisher: War Zone (2008) as Marvel antihero Frank Castle, and he would return to the Marvel well several more times with small roles in
Thor (2011) as Volstagg, a member of Thor’s pals known as the Warriors Three. He last played the part in
Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
He was a regular supporting player in multiple franchises, popping up in
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) as the classic toy character Firefly and in
Divergent (2014) and its two sequels,
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) and
The Divergent Series: Allegient (2016) as Marcus Eaton.
He played Scott Buxton, the brutal and racist governor and villain in
RRR (2022), the action movie that became a sensation on Netflix, one of the highest-grossing films in India, and an awards contender that captured the best song prize at the Oscars.
Production had only recently begun on
Cassino on Ischia, in which Stevenson was playing an older action movie star who seeks to revitalize his career by going to Italy to make a gritty film only to be forced to reckon with family drama. He was also recently cast to replace Kevin Spacey in the feature
1242: Gateway to the West.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ray-stevenson-dead-thor-ahsoka-rrr-1235497816/