100 Hot Men and a Dame: #93 Terence Stamp

93. Terence Stamp

Occupation: Actor

Nationality: British

Peak of Hotness: The 60's

Best Known For: Notorious womanizer whose acting credits include such varied work as Billy Budd, The Collector, The Limey and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Joining me in this installment of the "100 Hot Men and a Dame" series is my friend Cal. He writes on the blog Ultimate Addict and you can follow him here on Twitter. Enjoy!

Dame James: When did you first encounter Terence and, if it wasn't love at first sight, when did you fall in love with him?

Cal: As completely against my nature as this is, I’d have to say the moment in his career when he decided to put on a dress. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is one of Terence’s least fit performances but it was my first real introduction to him as an Actor, and the amount he manages to express about his character Bernadette's sexuality is pretty extraordinary. It’s also very cool how he was supposedly this playboy for a while but slipped into that aging diva persona like a total pro. Let’s face it: f there’s anything more sensually pleasing than a handsome bloke, it’s a bitchy old Queen.

DJ: I have never been attracted to a man in a drag, so I'm curious the check Priscilla out. Maybe Terence will be my first (it has been awhile since I could say that)?

How interesting that both of our moments were in such offbeat films/roles. I fell in love with Terence in The Collector, where he plays a quiet oddball who kidnaps a girl he's in love with and keeps her hostage in his basement. We all know I have a thing for emotionally damaged boys, so it was almost immediately a slam dunk. He's damaged beyond belief, almost beyond help, but you still want to try and make everything better. I think another part of what attracted me to Terence is the almost perverse sexuality of the film. Samantha Eggar, the woman he captures, straddles the line between falling in love with him to appease him and genuinely wanting to get it on with him. She goes in and out and it's easy to see why. Even if he held you against your will, wouldn't you be the slightest bit attracted to him?

C: Wasn't Terence the King of offbeat? I can't believe you haven't seen Priscilla. It's such a part of the homo iconography, and full of fabulous acting. I'm so not into drag either but as Justin Bieber sang (and hopefully never will again) "never say never." Doesn't it depend on who's wearing the dress?

The Collector is a strange one. One half of me thought it was all a bit silly and formal, and the other found it compelling and brave for the time. Terence is essentially asexual in that he's really pretty civil to his captive, and would rather call her out for being a devotee to culture. His character is horrible and sad but there's something about his eyes that continually draw me into his world, and you sense that he just wants to keep bright things in his life? Either way, he's very cute -- a cuteness kind of intensified by how awkward he acts around her and how well-meaning he is at times. But then the film is all about showing how good intentions don't always lead to positive outcomes. I'd be up for being kept against my will if he'd ditched his tray of tea and biscuits and offered me something a lil' stronger.

DJ: I don't know if it depends on who's wearing the dress. If I saw Efron or Gyllenhaal in full-on drag, I don't know if I would find that desirable. Sure, they may be beautiful looking women, but I wouldn't want to have sex with them. It's truly a fine line. But, like you quoted (and Bieber sang), I will "never say never".

Terence's eyes were so sad in The Collector. He wanted Eggar to live up to his image of her in his head but he was so pained when it obviously doesn't pan out. But Terence generally has great eyes. They have the same Paul Newman Piercing Blue color but you can tell there's a lot more naughtiness hidden behind Terence's peepers.

 

Like you mentioned, Terence is/was a notorious womanizer. Would you have rather been the one to tame the beast or merely been one of the many conquests?

C: Honestly, I'd rather be one of his many conquests. If there's anything I've learned it's that taming men is way too much hard work - plus I see Terence as more of a curious beast than a marry-me-Hugh-Jackman figure. There's something lurking there that says "try me once and don't look back." A bit like Simon Cowell. Or is that just me?

DJ: I would want to be one of his many conquests, too! It's really because I'm super lazy and I just want to have sex. I don't have the patience to deal with taming a notorious Lothario such as him. One night of passion is really all I need. And, yes, you are sadly alone on the Simon Cowell bit.

C: He has those classic looks but would you say Terence was one of those men with a small window at sexual peak? I saw him in an interview in the late 70s and he seemed to have aged quite a lot from those Billy Budd days.

DJ: As much as it pains me to say it, Terence really did have a small sexual peak. Some people are hot for decades, some grow into their sexiness and others are only hot for a brief period of time. Those are the breaks, I'm afraid. But at least we had that good 8-10 years though. A lot of guys don't even get that long at the top. And I bet Terence had a smashing personality that really helped him score with all the ladies.

C: I find your 'Get 'em, Do 'em, Move on' mentality pretty suitable here. The guy had a small peak, but what a peak!

I watched the trailer for Billy Budd and saw him wrestling a dude topless, so I might have the whole issue of Terence sexiness covered there.

DJ: Okay, I saw Billy Budd a couple of years ago and I have absolutely no recollection of a shirtless wrestling scene. I remember the homoeroticism of the entire film, but not this scene. Have I finally lost it? Am I slowly becoming Julie Christie in Away From Her?

 

C: Well if it isn't wrestling it's 'grappling' and it is in the trailer, so if they've left that out of the actual film it's the cinematic equivalent of a cocktease. I would think a hunk aficionado such as yourself would notice, but at 20 I wouldn't worry about Alzheimer's just yet. 

My mistake, you're 23. Don't get cocky.

I can't believe I forgot to mention Teorema, the Pasolini film where Terence Stamp plays an enigmatic stranger who has sex with every member of an upper class family! Terrible, terrible film but Stamp was in fine form. Do you think Terence was sexy in his prime? Did he really only have a small peak of sexiness or are Cal and I just ageist?