Ray Stevenson

Northern Irish actor (1964–2023)
the actor

George Raymond Stevenson (25 May 196421 May 2023) was a Northern Irish actor. He portrayed Dagonet in the film King Arthur (2004) and Titus Pullo in the BBC/HBO television series Rome (2005–2007). He 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 (2011–2017). His other films include Kill the Irishman (2011), where he portrayed mobster Danny Greene; The Three Musketeers (2011); and RRR (2022), where he portrayed the villainous Governor Scott. His television roles include Ukrainian mobster Isaak Sirko in the seventh season of Dexter, Blackbeard in the third and fourth seasons of Black Sails, voicing Gar Saxon in Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and portraying Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka. Stevenson was married to English actress Ruth Gemmell for eight years and had 3 sons with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia. Stevenson died on 21 May 2023. No cause of death has been revealed.

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.

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 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.

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. 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+. 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."

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.

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. 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.