Rome,
May
22
(AP)
Ray
Stevenson,
the
Irish
actor
who
played
the
villainous
British
governor
in
"RRR," an
Asgardian
warrior
in
the
"Thor"
films,
and
a
member
of
the
13th
Legion
in
HBO's
"Rome,"
has
died.
He
was
58.
Representatives
for
Stevenson
told
The
Associated
Press
that
he
died
Sunday
but
had
no
other
details
to
share
on
Monday.
Stevenson
was
born
in
Lisburn
in
1964.
After
attending
the
Bristol
Old
Vic
Theatre
School
and
years
of
working
in
British
television,
he
made
his
film
debut
in
Paul
Greengrass's
1998
film
"The
Theory
of
Flight."
In
2004,
he
appeared
in
Antoine
Fuqua's
"King
Arthur"
as
a
knight
of
the
round
table
and
several
years
later
played
the
lead
in
the
pre-Disney
Marvel
adaptation
"Punisher:
War
Zone."
Though
"Punisher"
was
not
the
best-reviewed
film,
he'd
get
another
taste
of
Marvel
in
the
first
three
"Thor"
films,
in
which
he
played
Volstagg.
Other
prominent
film
roles
included
the
"Divergent"
trilogy,
"G.I.
Joe:
Retaliation"
and
"The
Transporter:
Refueled."
A
looming
presence
at
6-foot-4,
Stevenson,
who
played
his
share
of
soldiers
past
and
present,
once
said
in
an
interview,
"I
guess
I'm
an
old
warrior
at
heart."
On
the
small
screen,
he
was
the
roguish
Titus
Pullo
in
"Rome,"
a
role
that
really
got
his
career
going
in
the
United
States
and
got
him
a
SAG
card,
at
the
age
of
44.
The
popular
series
ran
from
2005
to
2007.
"That
was
one
of
the
major
years
of
my
life,"
Stevenson
said
in
an
interview.
"It
made
me
sit
down
in
my
own
skin
and
say,
just
do
the
job.
The
job's
enough."
In
the
Variety
review
of
"Rome,"
Brian
Lowery
wrote
that
"the
imposing
Stevenson
certainly
stands
out
as
a
brawling,
whoring
and
none-too-bright
warrior
-
a
force
of
nature
who,
despite
his
excesses,
somehow
keeps
landing
on
his
feet."
He
was
Blackbeard
in
the
Starz
series
"Black
Sails,"
Commander
Jack
Swinburne
in
the
German
television
series
"Das
Boot,"
and
Othere
on
"Vikings."
Stevenson
also
did
voice
work
in
"Star
Wars
Rebels"
and
"The
Clone
Wars,"
as
Gar
Saxon,
and
has
a
role
in
the
upcoming
Star
Wars
live-action
series
"Ahsoka,"
in
which
he
plays
a
bad
guy,
Baylan
Skoll.
The
eight-episode
season
is
expected
on
Disney+
in
August.
In
an
interview
with
Backstage
in
2020,
Stevenson
said
his
acting
idols
were,
"The
likes
of
Lee
Marvin
(and)
Gene
Hackman."
"Never
a
bad
performance,
and
brave
and
fearless
within
that
caliber,"
Stevenson
said.
"It
was
never
the
young,
hot
leading
man;
it
was
men
who
I
could
identify
with."
Stevenson
has
three
sons
with
Italian
anthropologist
Elisabetta
Caraccia,
who
he
met
while
working
on
"Rome."