Ray Stevenson

George Raymond Stevenson (25 May 1964 – 21 May 2023) was an actor from Northern Ireland, best known for his film and television work. He had a starring role as legionary Titus Pullo on the BBC/HBO television series Rome (2005–07), and portrayed two Marvel Comics characters: Frank Castle / The Punisher in Punisher: War Zone (2008) and The Super Hero Squad Show and Volstagg in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2011–17).

His other notable film roles included Dagonet in King Arthur (2004), mobster Danny Greene in Kill the Irishman (2011), Porthos in The Three Musketeers (also 2011), and the villainous Governor-General Scott Buxton in RRR (2022). His television roles include Ukrainian mobster Isaak Sirko in the seventh season of Dexter (2012), for which he received a Saturn Award nomination; Blackbeard in the third and fourth seasons of Black Sails (2016-17), voicing Gar Saxon in Star Wars Rebels (2016-17) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2020), and portraying Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka (2023).

Stevenson was married to English actress Ruth Gemmell for eight years, and had 3 sons with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia.

Early life
George Raymond Stevenson was born in Lisburn in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on 25 May 1964, the second of three sons born to a British father and an Irish mother. His father was a Royal Air Force pilot. He moved to England with his family at the age of eight, first settling in the Lemington area of Newcastle upon Tyne and later in Seaton Delaval. He attended Bath Lane College (Newcastle upon Tyne) on a design course, then the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating at the age of 29.

Film
Stevenson made his film debut in The Theory of Flight (1998) as a gigolo hired to help Helena Bonham Carter's character lose her virginity. In 2002, he starred in the short film No Man's Land, which was the antipodal picture from actor/director Edward Hicks prior to his graduation from the London Film School. In the 12-minute film, set during World War I, Stevenson portrayed an experienced private who is forced to help a novice officer (David Birkin) back to safety after they both find themselves trapped and isolated in "No Man's Land" during the Battle of Ypres. In 2004, he starred in King Arthur as Dagonet, a knight of the round table who sacrifices his life for his comrades. His first leading role in a film was in the Scottish horror picture Outpost (2008), portraying a mercenary pitted against Nazi zombies in a bunker somewhere in Eastern Europe. That same year, he also starred in Punisher: War Zone, as Frank Castle / The Punisher, a former United States Marine turned vigilante after the murder of his family. In 2010, he played an antagonist in the comedy The Other Guys.

In 2011, Stevenson appeared in the film Kill the Irishman, based on the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia, as Danny Greene, the Irish mob boss who took on the Italian-American Cleveland crime family during the 1970s. He starred as Volstagg, one of Thor's trusted comrades, in the 2011 Marvel film Thor. Also that year, he played Porthos in Paul W. S. Anderson's adaptation of The Three Musketeers. He played Firefly in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, released in 2013. He appeared in the Finnish-American thriller film Big Game. In 2014, he starred in the film Divergent, based on the first book of The Divergent Series. He reprised his role in the sequels, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, released in March 2015, and The Divergent Series: Allegiant, released in March 2016.

In 2019, Stevenson was announced as a lead antagonist in the Telugu film RRR, directed by S. S. Rajamouli and released in 2022. This marked his debut in Indian cinema.

Television
Stevenson played legionary Titus Pullo in the BBC/HBO series Rome. His other television work included guest appearances in Waking the Dead, Murphy's Law and lead roles in City Central and At Home with the Braithwaites. He also appeared in TV films, including Some Kind of Life in 1995, and The Return of the Native. Some of his earliest parts were in two Catherine Cookson films: The Dwelling Place (1994) and The Tide of Life (1996). Stevenson reprised his role as the Punisher as a voice actor in The Super Hero Squad Show and played the role of Isaak Sirko in the seventh season of Dexter in 2012.

On 24 March 2015, it was announced by producers that Stevenson would be joining the cast of the Starz series Black Sails as the character Edward Teach.

Stevenson also appeared in Season 6 of the series Vikings as Othere, which ran from 2013-2020. He also appeared in Season 3 of the series Das Boot as Commander Jack Swinburne in 2022.

At Star Wars Celebration 2023, Stevenson was announced as playing the Dark Jedi Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka, a miniseries debuting on Disney+. After the series' debut following Stevenson's passing, Stevenson's Skoll quickly became a fan favorite. In an interview on Stevenson's part, showrunner Dave Filoni noted that when he was told to play Skoll as a villain, "[Stevenson] was like, ‘I don’t think so.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, I appreciate that you don’t think so, and Baylan wouldn’t think he’s the villain, but you are a villain in this.’ And he’s like, ‘We’ll see.’ It was kind of perfect.”  Stevenson also offered input on the design of his character's lightsaber hilt.

Stevenson's performance in Ahsoka also received considerable praise from critics. Metro described his work as "one of the highlights of the entire Star Wars series," while Collider described Stevenson as having "an inescapable gravitas" and that he "gave a masterclass in character building."

Stage
Stevenson's stage work included playing the part of Jesus Christ in the York Mystery Plays in 2000 at York Minster. In 2001, he took the part of Roger in the play Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot, at the Albery Theatre in London with Lindsay Duncan and Michael Maloney. His best-known part was perhaps that of the Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster with Janet McTeer at the Royal National Theatre in 2003.

Personal life
In 1997, Stevenson married English actress Ruth Gemmell in London; they had met on the set of Band of Gold (1995), and later played a married couple in Peak Practice (1997). They divorced in 2005 after eight years of marriage.

Stevenson had three sons with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia.

Death
Stevenson died on 21 May 2023, at age 58. No cause of death has been revealed, but he was reportedly hospitalised while on set filming Cassino in Ischia on the Italian island of Ischia. Stevenson's co-stars, including Rosario Dawson, Scott Adkins, and James Purefoy, paid tribute. Stevenson's role in Cassino in Ischia was taken over by Dominic Purcell.

The first episode of Ahsoka, released just over three months after Stevenson's death on 22 August 2023, includes a dedication to him: "For our friend, Ray". Ivanna Sakhno, who played Shin Hati, Stevenson's on-screen apprentice in Ahsoka, wrote in commemoration that she would be "forever his Wolf," in tribute to their characters being named after the two wargs who pursued the moon and sun in Norse mythology.