Remembering Terence Stamp’s Most Underrated Performance

Starring Terence Stamp as the mourning transgender Bernadette Bassenger, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is even more relevant, moving, exquisite, funny, and bitchy than when it rolled over the land down under on release in 1994. Writer/director Stephan Elliott’s now-cult classic should be studied for its performances, social commentary, and expert indulgence in Fellini-esque techniques. The film should also be celebrated for steadfastly supporting triumphant optimism in the face of unforgivably myopic discrimination, repression, violence, and ABBA. Stamp is the soul of the film, an elder queen unknowingly in search of the next act. It might not be the first performance you think of when you hear his name, but it is nonetheless a monument to his craft.

Stamp, who died last week at the age of 87, stands as a versatile, curious, and brave interpreter of inner lives, and how to project them on screen. For over 60 years, he moved through A-List classics and B-movie madness with unerring focus, bringing classical training as well as innate charm and charisma. Known for bringing complexity to early disreputable characters like Mitchell, a small-time high school terrorist in Term of Trial (1962), Stamp grew to embody the wisest yet most ruthless of villains, such as General Zod in Superman II (1980), or John Tunstall who schooled young outlaws beyond their wildest inclinations in Young Guns (1988).

Stamp’s film debut in the adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd (1962) broke rank and important new ground in subversive seamanship. The then-controversial role of repressed sexuality earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars. It paved the way for a long career, spanning decades and genres, including when Stamp played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). The desire to expand artistic creativity let Stamp embody tortured poet Arthur Rimbaud in (this writer’s personal favorite Stamp film) director Nelo Risi’s criminally underseen Italian production, A Season in Hell (1971).  Priscilla offered more than mere artistic expansion though. Neither dubious villain nor compromised hero, Stamp embodied a genuine heroine.

Tony Curtis, famous for his near-gender-bending role in Some Like It Hot, was the first choice for the part of Bernadette, but schedules clashed. David Bowie, and John Hurt were considered as replacements, according to Al Clark’s 1994 book Making Priscilla. Also starring Hugo Weaving as Anthony “Tick” Belrose, AKA Mitzi Del Bra, and Guy Pearce as Adam Whitely, also known as Felicia Jollygoodfellow, the chemistry and connection shared by the Priscilla leads is as infectious as it feels toxic.

The title character of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is the bargain-basement bus which leads the way and goes astray. Though not human, the 1976 Japanese model Hino Freighter diesel engine plays a vital role, especially as it ultimately becomes the biggest drama queen on the trip, constantly needing attention because of an abused gas line.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the ultimate drag queen road trip. Mitzi’s former wife, Marion Barber (Sarah Chadwick), runs a hotel/casino and needs a replacement act quickly for a limited run in Alice Springs, a 1,700-mile trip north through the Australian Outback. The three performers, who are locally famous in Sydney, take off across a continent which has never seen their likes.

Prior to filming, Stamp voiced concerns about antagonizing unenlightened audiences or encouraging additional stigma to what was already imposed on the LGBTQ+ community in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic outbreak. In one telling scene of the film, a local anonymous posse spray-paints the Priscilla bus with a particularly virulent graffiti stain referencing AIDS. When Felicia reclaims the bus in violet paint, it is a victory.

Along the isolated terrain running through the time-capsule of the Australian backcountry, the troupe finds performance spaces for needy rural workers hungry for entertainment. Any entertainment. The flamboyant trio of lip-syncing divas present their sensational schtick to unresponsive, dismissive, and occasionally violent bar patrons. What shines through is how open-minds find their way into the circle, including a roving group of First Nations of Australia whose members love the blues and appreciate the vibrant desert storm; and the helpful mechanic Bob (Bill Hunter), who saw the original “Les Girls,” a notoriously special event in Sydney and has been a passive fan for life.

Stamp’s Bernadette also has a storied past. She is probably the most famous “Les Girls” performer alive, though far too modest to flaunt it, or examine the past in general. Bernadette is now an aging trans queen mourning the loss of her partner Trumpet. Never seen on camera, we learn Trumpet felt being seen with drag royalty was akin to marrying royal blood. But he also served Bernadette’s needs and was an emotional cushion. Bernadette takes to the road to bypass the grief engulfing her in the couple’s shared apartment. Although antagonistic to Felicia after too much needling and vicious deadnaming, Bernadette proves most astute at healing psychic wounds and inflicting physical ones, as she does to an assailant in response to an attack on one of the girls.

When the traveling players are confronted, Bernadette is the avenging angel, going as far as to knee the viciously abusive Frank (Kenneth Radley) in the groin before pulling Felicia to safety, and daring onlookers to interfere. The belligerent crowds in Sydney and Coober Pedy emphasize some of Australia’s homophobic hostility in the ‘90s. Yet the violence is still underplayed in the film, possibly to maintain the comedic edge, already a very sharp weapon.

By thrusting honest dangers into the faces of potentially misinformed audiences, and of course peppering each conversation with drop dead one-liners (admittedly some are inversions of Rodney Dangerfield classics), the film is brilliantly triumphant, choosing to focus on acceptance, whether intuitive, earned through lip-sync mastery and exuberant choreography, or the sheer humanity inherent in the seemingly dehumanized.

Stamp maintains a low-key approach to Bernadette. Downplaying the past, saddled with life-strengthening memories, and braving the heat in a solo stroll through unknown desert terrain, Bernadette never sacrifices dignity, poise, or strength. Exhibiting the epitome of a generous actor, Stamp allows Weaving and Pearce to enjoy the parameters of unbridled abandon in their performances, indulging in the most delicious camp, before pulling in true drama.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was produced and hit theaters at the tail end of a more daring time for filmmakers, who pushed contemporary reality in a believable and relatable way. Modern sensibilities may find Stamp playing a transgender role to be inauthentic, but films such as these must be seen as the radical force which shook more commercial entertainment to the core in their times, infiltrating studio creatives with alternative premises.

The language is rough, but true to much of the era’s conversation. These are authentic characters, mining themselves for an unfiltered purity. The attitude may seem aggressive and tag Priscilla as somehow dated, but the underlying themes are universal.

Each character accepts each other and themselves by the end of the road trip, leaving only one obstacle to mount as a team. The climb up King’s Canyon near the end represents shared glory in the pinnacle of humility. The Aussie Outback was never the same after Priscilla made a few unannounced stops.

Furthermore, happy, positive, uplifting, and empowering queer theater was on the wane cinematically at the time of the film’s release. In this context, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was an unexpected global success and a milestone in worldwide LGBTQ+ portrayal. It sparked a short-lived renaissance which also gave us To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995). And Stamp’s character, grieving and inconvenienced, resonates beyond boundaries. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert resurrects the traditional Hollywood musical, complete with the style, glitz, and glamour, along with the torture of the most inappropriate footwear for dancing. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is not about a commitment to sexual choice but an acceptance of age, and faith in the self.