Northern Irish actor Ray Stevenson, who brought a formidable screen presence to leading roles in Punisher: War Zone and HBO’s Rome and had supporting turns in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, has died at the age of 58 in Italy. Representatives confirmed to Vulture that he died on Sunday, May 21. Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that the actor was in Ischia filming a project called Cassino in Ischia and was hospitalized on Saturday for an undisclosed cause.
Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1964, Stevenson studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and made his film debut acting opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the 1988 dramedy The Theory of Flight. He was a working actor in the British television industry before crossing over with his performance as charming rogue Titus Pullo in HBO’s prestige swords-and-sandals series Rome. From there, he landed the lead role in Marvel’s 2008 Punisher reboot film, Punisher: War Zone. Although that was not a part of the MCU, Stevenson soon entered it as Volstagg, a Falstaffian warrior buddy of Thor’s who appeared in the first three Thor films. In 2012, he was nominated for a Saturn Award for his portrayal of Isaak Sirko, the big bad of Dexter, season seven.
Stevenson’s most notable role of recent years was as the dastardly, villainous Governor Scott Buxton in S.S. Rajamouli’s Tollywood hit RRR. Having already voiced Mandalorian commando Gar Saxon in Star Wars Rebels and Clone Wars, he will be posthumously returning to the Star Wars universe later this year as former Jedi Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka.
