Ray Stevenson Dies: ‘RRR’, ‘Thor’, ‘Vikings’ & ‘Rome’ Actor Was 58

Erik Pedersen
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Ray Stevenson, a veteran actor whose dozens of film and TV credits include RRR, the Thor and Divergent films, Rome, Vikings and Star Wars animated series, died Sunday in Italy. He was 58. His reps at Independent Talent confirmed the news but did not provide details.

He most recently has been cast in historical drama 1242: Gateway to the West, taking over the lead role that originally was to be played by Kevin Spacey.

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Stevenson played the main antagonist Scott Buxton in SS Rajamouli’s global box office smash RRR and is known for playing Volstagg in Marvel’s Thor franchise and Othere in History’s Vikings. He also has voiced Gar Saxon in the animated Star Wars series The Clone Wars and Rebels and was set to join Rosario Dawson in Disney+’s upcoming The Mandalorian spinoff Ahsoka.

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Born on May 25, 1964, in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Stevenson began his screen career in the early 1990s, appearing in European TV series and telefilms. His first big-screen credit was opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Kenneth Branagh in Paul Greengrass’ 1998 drama The Theory of Flight. We went on to land roles in such features as Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004), Lexi Alexander’s Punisher: War Zone (2008), the Hughes Brothers’ The Book of Eli (2010) and Adam McKay’s The Other Guys (2010).

Ray Stevenson as Volstagg in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (2013)
Ray Stevenson as Volstagg in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (2013)

Stevenson’s next role would be among his most famous, playing Volstagg — an Asgardian member of the Warriors Three — in Marvel’s Branagh-directed Thor (2011). He would reprise the role in a pair of sequels: Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

He also co-starred as Porthos in Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers (2011), Firefly in Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) and Marcus in 2014’s Divergent and its sequel Insurgent the following year. He toplined Kill the Irishman, playing Danny Greene opposite Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken in Jonathan Hensleigh’s 2011 pic based on a true story.

On the small screen, along with Vikings and the Star Wars series, he starred opposite Poppy Montgomery in the French American series Reef Break, which aired one season on ABC in 2019. He also starred as Titus Pullo in the 2005-07 HBO series Rome and co-starred in the 2017 British miniseries Rellik. Stevenson also played Blackbeard on Starz’s Black Sails and guested in such series as Murphy’s Law, Dexter, Crossing Lines, Medici and The Spanish Princess.

More recently, he co-starred last year as Commander Jack Swimburne in Season 3 of the German TV series Das Boot.

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