British actor Terence Stamp, a leading man of 1960s cinema before reinventing himself in a series of striking roles -- including as Superman villain General Zod -- has died aged 87, UK media cited his family announcing Sunday.

"He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come," media quoted the family saying.

Stamp, exploded on to the screen in the 1960s as a leading man, even then sometimes playing troubled characters. At one point, he seemed to specialise in playing brooding villains

Later still, he broke out of that typecasting to play a partying transgender woman in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

From Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Theorem" to a villain's role in one of the

See Full Page