Terence Stamp was born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow Church in London which means he is one of the few people entitled to call himself a cockney. He began his working life in advertising but the happy chance of his failing the medical for National Service gave him an unexpected two years to look around for something else. He found acting and, after having worked in the British theatre, most notably in a National Tour of Hall’s The Long the Short and the Tall with another young actor called Michael Caine, Stamp was cast in the title role in Ustinov’s Billy Budd (1962). His immense success in the role, his famed exploits with his new flat-mate Caine and his affair with the prototype for the supermodel, Jean Shrimpton, led to an iconic presence in the similarly iconic sixties London scene.

He chose his film roles with caution, working with such greats as Schlesinger, Loach, Passolini and Fellini, and famously rejecting the role of Alfie.