Born at Hammersmith in 1877,[1] Stamper was a stage actor both before and after appearing in silent movies.
[3] In 1907 he appeared in the musical comedy Miss Hook of Holland at the Prince of Wales Theatre, creating the role of the Bandmaster; the musical enjoyed a run of 462 performances.
[4][5] In 1911 he appeared in a Charles Frohman production of The Siren at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway, and the same year he played Captain Charteris in A Quiet Girl, at New York's Park Theatre, with a run of 240 performances.
[6] Stamper was a good golfer, but while in New York with a leading role in the Broadway production of The Dollar Princess, he played a round of golf with a Miss Melrose at the Dunwoodie Country Club, in Yonkers, injured the lady by slicing a drive, and faced a claim which was reported as a notable case on the law of torts.
His granddaughter Rosemary Stamper is the mother of the comedian Jack Dee.