Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that Sir Patrick Stewart, the lifelong actor best known for his turns as Professor Xavier in the X-Men series of films and, especially, the beloved Captain Jean Luc Picard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation franchise, had passed away.
Like many, I was first introduced to Stewart in September1987, allowing him into my home during the evening premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation and then on a weekly basis thereafter. I was fourteen years old and I had no idea, at that time, how important a television program TNG would become for me, my friends and for millions of fans around the world.
Stewart’s Captain Picard was an immediate role model. He exemplified heroism through thoughtfulness and a well-read wisdom. He was respectful, highly moral and full of wonderous curiosity. And it become more and more evident as the science fiction series progressed over the years, that Stewart the actor, built the role scene-by-scene, episode-by-episode, with traits he himself possessed.
Interestingly, at about the same time that Star Trek: TNG first aired, I also discovered director John Boorman’s 1981 film, Excalibur, not realizing at first that Patrick Stewart played a small, but vital role in that wonderful telling of the King Arthur legend. His portrayal of the would-be High King, Leodegrance of Cameliard, is a memorable one – a feature that Stewart reliably brought to all of his performances.
In Excalibur, Stewart’s Leodegrance, disappointed by his inability to claim the mythical sword Excalibur from the stone in which was embedded, was still the first to throw his unwavering allegiance behind the young Arthur. It was an honourable but precarious decision, one he knew would lead to the siege of his kingdom by those that sought to take the crown for themselves.
That personality trait was a common thread in Stewart’s work, including his inspired turn as Professor Charles Xavier, the powerful and hopeful patriarch of the mutant X-Men group in the self-titled film franchise over the last two and a half decades. So taken were audiences with his portrayal that he reprised and deepened the role across nine separate films, the last of which, his on-screen swan song, being the anxiously awaited Hollywood blockbuster, Avengers: Doomsday, released this coming December.
It’s all a testament to his longevity as a beloved actor and cast member and the positivity of his presence, surely felt by colleagues, acquaintances and fans across the globe, throughout his life.
These are the kind of role choices and character constructions that Stewart became famous for. They were traits absorbed seemingly from his own real-life persona: stalwart and unflinching in the face of the immoral. Kind and giving. And always curious.
Still, Stewart’s breadth of talent allowed him to take on darker, more daring roles on screen or on stage, whether it was in productions like Green Room (2015) where he played a brutal neo-Nazi or his turns as the murderous King Claudius in William Shakespear’s Hamlet, a role he would play multiple times.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Stewart could make for a great laugh as well.
His comedy, perhaps because it was somewhat seemingly against type, allowed for silly, tongue-in-cheek snickers, eye-rolls and even rollicking laughs by television and film viewers. As an audience, all we had to do was tune in to one of his many interviews and experience his calmly seated-on-chair, wonderfully self-deprecating wit on full display. Or, better yet, catch an episode of Frasier in which he guest-starred, in order to witness his over-the-top, perfectly timed, full-force comedy. Could Stewart ever turn a phrase! A personal favourite is his guest appearance on the Extras series, where he played a somewhat depraved “real” version of himself – a version where his desire was to have “seen everything.”
I still laugh every time I think of that performance.
But it’s Star Trek: The Next Generation and his character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard that fans are most enamoured with. That hit series gave Stewart the ability to showcase the bread of his unending, bottomless talents each and every week. Wonderful and memorable episodes like “Measure of a Man” (1989: Season 2, Episode 9), “Darmok” (1991: Season 5, Episode 2), “The Inner Light” (1992: Season 5, Episode 25) and the multi-part “Chain of Command” (1992: Season 5, Episodes 10 and 11) not only built and reinforced the popularity of the character, but the role permitted Stewart to tap deep into his acting talent, allowing the character to bloom on screen and move an anticipatory audience. A favourite episode is “Family” (1990: Season 4, Episode 2), which sees the character of Picard visiting his family vineyard, in La Baree, France, where he meets with his estranged older brother, still reeling from his abduction by the antagonist Borg and the psychological damage they did to him. What Stewart produces here is a masterclass of acting that showcases deep emotion and the tenuous nature of human frailty. Here, the stalwart Captain is a broken man who must learn to mend himself back together again, a life-long endeavour.
That particular performance is a high watermark of both the series and Stewart’s acting, cementing him as the important human foundation of the science fiction franchise’s eternal success and his ever-lasting popularity with fans.
Still, it is but one example of many roles and moments that have moved audiences over the years. A career defined by the man’s depth and poise, world-spanning sense of wonder and his constant search for human truth.
Rest in peace, Sir Patrick Stewart. Your work and presence will last forever, found both near and between the farthest-reaching stars themselves.
