Patrick Stewart
This article is about the actor. For the deceased soldier, see Sgt. Patrick Stewart.Patrick Stewart,
OBE, (born
July 13,
1940) is an
English film,
television, and stage
actor and
Chancellor of
Huddersfield University. Throughout his career, he has performed various characters in
Shakespearean productions and has led a distinguished career in the theatre for nearly fifty years. However, he is best known to the public at large for his roles as Captain
Jean-Luc Picard in
Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as
Professor Xavier in the
X-Men film franchise. His
bald head and classically trained vocal mannerisms are his most recognized traits.
Stewart was born in
Mirfield,
Yorkshire,
England, although he spent much of his childhood in
Jarrow. His first appearance on stage was at a local outdoor history pageant as
Tom of Towngate when he was 9. At the age of 12, he entered the local
secondary modern school where he continued to study drama. He has said that "the greatest thing that ever happened to me" was after he read
Shylock aloud in front of his class and his teacher told him, "Stewart, you're good at this. You should do it for a living."
At 15, he dropped out of school and increased his participation in local theatre. He acquired a job as a newspaper reporter, but after a year, his employer gave him an ultimatum to choose acting or journalism. He quit the job. His brother tells the story that Stewart would attend rehearsals during work time and then invent the stories he reported. Supposedly, this caught up with him the night of a large fire of which, when questioned by his boss, he knew nothing about.
 |
Bristol Old Vic students Patrick Stewart (left) and Christopher Tranchell studying a script at home, 1958 |
At 16 he was a furniture salesman. And in 1957, at the age of 17, he embarked on a two-year acting course at the world famous
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He lost most of his hair by the age of 19 (
alopecia runs in his family), but he successfully sold himself to theatre producers, after performing an audition with and without a
wig, as
"two actors for the price of one!". In
1964 he met the Old Vic's choreographer Sheila Falconer and they married on
March 4,
1966. They had two children — Daniel Freedom Stewart and Sophie Alexandra Stewart — but divorced in
1990. Daniel Stewart would have a small role playing Picard's son in an
alternate universe in the
Next Generation episode,
The Inner Light.
Following a period with the Manchester
Library Theatre, he joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company in
1966 where he appeared next to actors such as
Ben Kingsley and
Ian Richardson — and even played on the company's
football (soccer) team. He then moved to the
Royal National Theatre in the early
1980s. Over the years, Stewart took roles in many major television series without ever becoming a household name. He appeared as
Sejanus in
I, Claudius; Karla in
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and
Smiley's People; Claudius in a
1980 BBC adaptation of
Hamlet. He even took the romantic male lead in the
BBC adaptation of
Mrs Gaskell's
North and South (wearing a hairpiece).
Diehard fans will recognize him in a minor role as
King Leondegrance in
John Boorman's
Excalibur (
1981). He played the character
Gurney Halleck in
David Lynch's
1984 film version of
Dune. Much of his part was cut from the original release of the film due to editing made to make the immensely long film shorter. Much of this footage was restored for the
syndicated television broadcast of the film and the subsequent DVD video release.
In
1987, after doing a Shakespeare Seminar at
UCSB, Stewart went to
Los Angeles to star as Captain
Jean-Luc Picard in
Star Trek: The Next Generation (
1987-
1994). From
1994 he also portrayed Picard in the movie
spin-offs
Star Trek: Generations (
1994),
Star Trek: First Contact (
1996),
Star Trek: Insurrection (
1998), and
Star Trek: Nemesis (
2002). He also played Picard in
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode "
Emissary".
In
1997 he became engaged to Wendy Neuss, production assistant of
Star Trek: Voyager (
1995-
2001). They married on
August 25,
2000, only to later divorce on
October 14,
2003. Four months before the divorce in June of that year he played opposite 24-year-old actress
Lisa Dillon in a production of The Master Builder. Despite the large difference in age, the two fell in love and dated. He has said that his life was substantially changed by Star Trek, and he has been quoted as saying:
Stewart has also said he is very proud of his work on
Star Trek: TNG, for its social message and educational impact on young viewers. On being questioned about the significance of his role compared to his distinguished Shakespearean career, Stewart has said:
The accolades he has received include "Sexiest Man on Television" (
TV Guide, 1992), which he considered an unusual distinction considering his age and his
baldness. (That same year,
Cindy Crawford was voted the sexiest woman in the same poll.) Paramount executives had been concerned about Stewart's baldness, and before he took the role of Picard they insisted he do a screen test wearing a wig. The results were unsatisfactory, and all agreed that Stewart looked better bald. In an interview with
Michael Parkinson, he expressed gratitude for
Gene Roddenberry's riposte to a reporter who said, "Surely they would have cured baldness by the 24th century," to which Roddenberry replied, "In the 24th Century, they wouldn't care." A few years later, he described an event connected with his natural loss of hair whilst a guest of
Jonathan Ross's talk show, whereby he had a last patch of hair that looked so out of place that while visiting friends his hosts actually held him down and cut off the offending lock.
Stewart had said after the failure of
Star Trek: Nemesis another
Star Trek: Next Generation film would be unlikely. However, in December 2005, Stewart disclosed that talks are in the process for another
Star Trek film, and that after fulfilling his previous commitments, he would be open to the possibility of reprising his role as Jean Luc Picard. On
April 20,
2006, a new Star Trek movie was announced by Paramount (
Star Trek XI). There is some speculation about which era the movie will be set in, so it is not clear if Stewart will play a role.
In 1991, he performed his one-man-play adaptation of
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which he performed the roles of all of the 40-plus characters himself. His radiant energy and marvelous performance was repeated the following year in 1992 and then 1993, 1994, 1996 and then again, for the benefit of survivors and victims' families in the
September 11, 2001 attacks. Stewart performed the play again for a 23-day run in London's West End in December 2005. For his performances in this play, he has received the
Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance in 1992 and the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Solo Performance in 1994. 1997 would see Patrick invert Shakespeare's
Othello. Originally a play about a black African entering a white Society, Patrick had wanted to play the title role since the age of 14, so he (along with director
Jude Kelly), inverted the play so Othello became a White man in a Black Society. In 1995, he performed
Prospero in
William Shakespeare's
The Tempest, on
Broadway, in
New York City.
He has played a great range of characters, from the flamboyantly gay Sterling in the
1995 film
Jeffrey to King
Henry II in
Lion in Winter (2003) and
Captain Ahab in a made-for-TV movie version of
Moby Dick (for which he was nominated for an
Emmy Award).
In late 2003, during the eleventh and final season of
NBC's
Frasier, Stewart appeared on the show as a gay
Seattle socialite who mistakes
Frasier for a potential lover.
Stewart has also starred in
X-Men,
X2 and
X-Men: The Last Stand as
Charles Xavier. The films' success has appeared to have resulted in another lucrative regular role in the burgeoning
superhero film series.
Speaking at the launch of the
Take A Stand anti-bullying campaign in association with Charity of the Year Beat Bullying, Stewart said he wasn't convinced that
X3 would be the franchise's own last stand. "When it comes to it you can never say it's the last because a lot of it is about economic drive. The first two films were among the most successful films ever, if the third continues that theme, I would imagine there's a strong possibility that within a short while a fourth one might be in the planning."[
1]
In 2005, he signed up to play the role of Professor Ian Hood, the lead character in an
ITV science-fiction thriller series
Eleventh Hour, created by
Stephen Gallagher.[
2] The first episode was broadcast on
January 19,
2006.
Stewart also, notably, appeared in
Ricky Gervais's television series
Extras, as a last-minute replacement for
Jude Law. For playing himself, he was nominated for an
Emmy Award in 2006 for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[
3]
Although he has had a tremendous amount of success doing films, he prefers theatre. He told reporters that "
Ingmar Bergman was once asked which he preferred and said, 'I love making movies, but the theatre is my life.' That exactly sums it up for me, too."
Stewart is currently the
Chancellor of the
University of Huddersfield. Stewart is a lifelong supporter of the
British Labour Party.
Stewart was made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours list.
Stewart was at one time considered for the role of
Willy Wonka in the movie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to which he (like many other
Hollywood actors) had great interest in playing. Stewart was particularly interested because he enjoys playing characters from books.
Stewart has lent his recognizable voice to a number of projects. He has narrated recordings of
Prokofiev's
Peter and the Wolf,
Vivaldi's
The Four Seasons,
C. S. Lewis's
The Last Battle (part of the series
The Chronicles of Narnia),
Rick Wakeman's
Return to the Centre of the Earth, and as the narrator in the soundtrack of
The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as numerous TV programs such as
High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. He is also heard as the voice of the Magic Mirror in
Disneyland's live show,
Snow White - An Enchanting Musical.He also was a
voice actor on several animated films — including
The Prince of Egypt,
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,
Chicken Little,
The Pagemaster, and the English
dubbings of the Japanese
anime films
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by
Hayao Miyazaki and
Steamboy — and voiced the pig
Napoleon in a TV adaptation of
George Orwell's
Animal Farm as well as CIA Deputy Director
Avery Bullock (lending his likeness as well as his voice) on the animated series
American Dad and guest starred in the
Simpsons episode "
Homer the Great". In
2005, Stewart voiced Bambi's father, The Great Prince of the Forest in
Disney's direct-to-video sequel,
Bambi II.
In addition to voicing his characters from
Star Trek and
X-Men in several related
computer and video games, Stewart also worked as a voice actor on games unrelated to both franchises, such as
Lands of Lore, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He also lent his voice to several editions of the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
His voice talents also appeared in a couple of commercials.* Patrick Stewart is probably the most famous living supporter of Huddersfield Town Football Club [4], following in the footsteps of former British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
* Stewart is also a huge fan of the MTV animated series Beavis & Butthead, and is known to do a surprisingly accurate impersonation of the title characters.1997, The Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, DC), Stewart in a "photo negative" production of Othello with an otherwise all-black cast.
2006 Plays Prospero in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and Mark Anthony in Anthony and Cleopatra at the Swan Theatre, for the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the cycle performing all Shakespeare's works in a year
* PatrickStewart.org - The Patrick Stewart Network (official fan club).
*
* Trek star's space travel unease BBC interview
*
* Interview with Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs
* Patrick Stewart Timeline
