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George Raymond Stevenson (25 May 196421 May 2023) was a British-Irish actor, best known for his film and television work. He had a starring role as legionary Titus Pullo on the BBC/HBO television series Rome (2005–2007), and portrayed two Marvel Comics characters: Punisher in (2008) and The Super Hero Squad Show, and Volstagg in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2011–2017).
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 (2016–2017), Gar Saxon in Star Wars Rebels (2016–2017) and (2020), Othere in 11 episodes of Vikings (2020), and Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka (2023). Stevenson was married to English actress Ruth Gemmell for eight years. Later, he remarried an Italian anthropologist, Elisabetta Caraccia, and had three sons.
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 crime 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 , 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, , released in March 2015, and , released in March 2016.
In 2019, Stevenson was announced as a lead antagonist in the Telugu cinema film RRR, directed by S. S. Rajamouli and released in 2022. This marked his debut in Indian cinema.
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 to 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 death, 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 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". After Stevenson's death, Rory McCann took over the role for the second season.
The first episode of Ahsoka, released on 22 August 2023, just over three months after Stevenson's death, 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. Stevenson is succeeded in the role of Skoll by Rory McCann in Ahsoka's second season. McCann was a good friend of Stevenson. The film Canary Black (2024), which features Stevenson, is also dedicated to him.
| +Key | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| 1998 | The Theory of Flight | Gigolo | ||
| 1999 | Mr. Hardy | |||
| 2002 | No Man's Land | Short film | ||
| 2004 | King Arthur | Dagonet | ||
| 2008 | Outpost | D.C. | ||
| Punisher | ||||
| 2009 | Murlough | |||
| 2010 | The Book of Eli | Redridge | ||
| The Other Guys | Roger Wesley | |||
| 2011 | Kill the Irishman | Danny Greene | ||
| Thor | Volstagg | |||
| The Three Musketeers | Porthos | |||
| 2013 | Firefly | |||
| Jayne Mansfield's Car | Phillip Bedford | |||
| Volstagg | ||||
| 2014 | Divergent | Marcus Eaton | ||
| Big Game | Morris | |||
| 2015 | Marcus Eaton | |||
| Frank Martin Sr. | ||||
| 2016 | Marcus Eaton | |||
| 2017 | Volstagg | |||
| Cold Skin | Gruner | |||
| 2018 | Accident Man | Ray "Big Ray" | ||
| Final Score | Arkady Belav | |||
| 2022 | RRR | Governor Scott Buxton | ||
| Memory | Detective Danny Mora | |||
| Ray "Big Ray" | ||||
| 2024 | Canary Black | Jarvis Hedlund | Posthumous release | |
| 2025 | Cesareane |
| 1993 | A Woman's Guide to Adultery | Journalist | ||
| 1994 | The Dwelling Place | Matthew Whitwell | 3 episodes | |
| The Return of the Native | Clym Yeobright | Television film | ||
| 1995 | Band of Gold | Steve Dickson | 12 episodes | |
| Some Kind of Life | Steve | Television film | ||
| 1996 | The Tide of Life | Larry Birch | 3 episodes | |
| 1997 | Peak Practice | Joe Higson | Episode: "Home Truths" | |
| Drover's Gold | Armstrong | 5 episodes | ||
| 1998 | City Central | Detective Inspector Tony Baynham | 32 episodes | |
| 1999 | Love in the 21st Century | Alex | Episode: "Toyboys" | |
| 2000 | Holby City | Laurence Haney | Episode: "Taking It on the Chin" | |
| The Bill | Sergeant Gartland | Episode: "Over the Edge" | ||
| 2001 | At Home with the Braithwaites | Graham Braithwaite | 11 episodes | |
| Dalziel and Pascoe | Jeff Parry | Episode: "Truth and Consequences" | ||
| 2003 | Red Cap | Sergeant Chris Roxborough | Episode: "Cover Story" | |
| Murphy's Law | Robert Eaglan | Episode: "Kiss and Tell" | ||
| 2004 | Waking the Dead | Dr. Tim Faulkner | Episode: "Fugue States" | |
| 2005–2007 | Rome | Titus Pullo | 22 episodes | |
| 2007 | Life Line | Peter Brasco | Television film | |
| 2009 | The Super Hero Squad Show | Punisher | Voice, Episode: "Night in the Sanctorum!" | |
| 2012 | Dexter | Isaak "Volk" Sirko | 9 episodes Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television | |
| 2014 | Crossing Lines | Miles Lennon | 4 episodes | |
| 2015 | Saints & Strangers | Stephen Hopkins | Miniseries | |
| 2016–2017 | Black Sails | Blackbeard | 11 episodes | |
| Star Wars Rebels | Gar Saxon | Voice, 2 episodes | ||
| 2017 | Rellik | Detective Sergeant Inspector Edward Benton | 6 episodes | |
| 2019 | Reef Break | Jake Elliot | 13 episodes | |
| Medici | Ferdinand I of Naples | 2 episodes | ||
| 2020 | The Spanish Princess | James IV of Scotland | 2 episodes | |
| Vikings | Ohthere of Hålogaland | 11 episodes | ||
| Gar Saxon | Voice, 2 episodes | |||
| 2022 | Das Boot | Commander Jack Swinburne | 8 episodes | |
| 2023 | Ahsoka | Baylan Skoll | Main role, 8 episodes; posthumous release | |
| 2000 | York Mystery Plays | Christ | ||
| 2001 | Mouth to Mouth | Roger | ||
| 2003 | The Duchess of Malfi | The Cardinal | ||
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