Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart stands among some of the soccer fans watching the All-Star game on 8 August 2004
Born	Patrick Hewes Stewart[1] 13 July 1940 (1940-07-13) (age 69) Mirfield, Yorkshire, England
Occupation	actor
Years active	1959 - present
Spouse(s)	Sheila Falconer (1966—1990) Wendy Neuss (2000—2003)
Official website
Awards won Grammy Awards Best Spoken Word Album for Children 1996 Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf Laurence Olivier Awards Best Supporting Actor 1979 Antony and Cleopatra Other awards Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor 2007 Macbeth

Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE (born 13 July 1940) is an English film, television and stage actor. He is also Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield.^[2] He has had a distinguished career in theatre for nearly fifty years, including performances as various characters in Shakespearean productions. However, he is perhaps most widely known for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Xavier in the X-Men films.

Biography

Early life

Stewart was born in Mirfield,^[3] Yorkshire, England, the son of Gladys (née Barrowclough), a weaver and textile worker, and Alfred Stewart, a Regimental Sergeant Major in the British Army who served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and previously worked as a general labourer and as a postman.^[4] Throughout childhood, he endured great poverty and disadvantage, an experience which influenced his later political and ideological beliefs.^[5] In 2006 Stewart made a short video against violence for Amnesty International, in which he recollected his father's physical attacks on his mother and the effect it had on him as a child.^[6] He attended Crowlees C of E Junior and Infants School,^[7] and in 1951, aged 11, he entered Mirfield Secondary Modern School,^[8] where he continued to study drama.

At age 15, Stewart dropped out of school and increased his participation in local theatre. He acquired a job as a newspaper reporter and obituary writer,^[9] but after a year, his employer gave him an ultimatum to choose acting or journalism.^[10] He quit the job. His brother tells the story that Stewart would attend rehearsals during work time and then invent the stories he reported. Stewart also trained as a boxer.^[9]

Bristol Old Vic students Patrick Stewart (left) and Christopher Tranchell studying a script at home, 1958.

In 1957, at the age of 17, he embarked on a two-year acting course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He lost most of his hair by the age of 19 but he successfully sold himself to theatre producers after performing an audition with and without a wig, heralding his performance as "two actors for the price of one!"^[10]

Career

Following a period with the Manchester Library Theatre, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1966 where he appeared next to actors such as Ben Kingsley and Ian Richardson. He made his Broadway debut as Snout in Peter Brook's legendary production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, 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 Lenin in Fall of Eagles; 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). He is also one of only two actors to appear in Sir Kenneth Clark's Civilisation: A Personal View series.

He also had minor roles in several films such as King Leondegrance in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981), the character Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's 1984 film version of Dune and Dr. Armstrong in Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce.

In 1987, after attending 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), for which he received a 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series." 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); and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode "Emissary". Stewart has said that his life was substantially changed by Star Trek, and he has been quoted as saying:

He has also said he is very proud of his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, 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:^[11]

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. 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 on Jonathan Ross's BBC talk show, he said that his last patch of hair looked so out of place that while visiting friends his hosts actually held him down and cut off the offending lock.^[12]

In 1991, Stewart performed his one-man-play adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which he portrayed all 40-plus characters himself. He later starred as Scrooge in a TV movie version of A Christmas Carol, receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance. He was also the co-producer of the show, through the company he set up for the purpose: Camm Lane Productions, a reference to his birthplace in Camm Lane, Mirfield. He staged encore performances in 1992, 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. Shakespeare roles during this period included Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, on Broadway in 1995, a role he would reprise in Rupert Goold's 2006 production of The Tempest as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival,^[13] and the title role in Shakespeare's Othello in 1997. Originally a play about a black African entering a white society, Stewart 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 entering a black society.

He has played a great range of characters, from the flamboyantly gay Sterling in the 1995 film Jeffrey to King Henry II in The Lion in Winter, for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance and an Emmy Award nomination for executive-producing the film. He portrayed Captain Ahab in the 1998 made-for-TV movie version of Moby Dick (receiving Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance). 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 resulted in another lucrative regular genre film role in a major superhero film series. He has also since voiced the role in video games such as X-Men Legends II, although some of the games are more closely tied to the original comic books rather than the movies.

In 2005, he was cast as Professor Ian Hood in an ITV thriller 4-episode series Eleventh Hour, created by Stephen Gallagher.^[14] The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006. He also, in 2005, played Captain Nemo in a two part adaptation of The Mysterious Island. Stewart also 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.^[15]

In October/November 2006, Stewart accompanied the Royal Shakespeare Company as they performed The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar at the University of Michigan. He acted the role of Antony again playing opposite Harriet Walter's Cleopatra in an acclaimed performance of Antony and Cleopatra at the Novello Theatre in London in 2007. During this period, Stewart also addressed the Durham Union Society on his life in film and theatre.

He was named as the next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre based at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford in January 2007.^[16] In 2008, Stewart played King Claudius in Hamlet alongside David Tennant. Stewart has expressed interest in appearing in Doctor Who.^[17]

Voice acting

Stewart has lent his 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 (conclusion of the series The Chronicles of Narnia), Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth, and as the narrator in The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as numerous TV programs such as High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. Stewart provided the narration for Nine Worlds, an astronomical tour of the solar system. 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, as well as the English dubbings of the Japanese anime films Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki and Steamboy. He voiced the pig Napoleon in a TV adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm and guest starred in the Simpsons episode "Homer the Great" as Number One. More recently, he has played a recurring role as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock (lending his likeness as well as his voice) on the animated series American Dad! as well as making (as of 2008) three guest appearances on Family Guy in various forms: first as Capt. Picard, second replacing Peter Griffin's voice with his own for a gag, and third in his American Dad! role Bullock. In 2006, Stewart voiced Bambi's father, The Great Prince of the Forest in Disney's direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II.

He loaned his voice to a number of Activision-produced Star Trek computer games, including Star Trek: Armada, Armada II, Bridge Commander, and Elite Force II, all reprising his role as Captain Picard. Stewart reprised his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Legacy for both PC and Xbox 360, along with the four other 'major' Starfleet captains from the different Star Trek series.

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 in which in 2006 he won a Spike TV Video Game Award for his work as Emperor Uriel Septim. He also lent his voice to several editions of the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.

His voice talents also appeared in a couple of commercials including the UK TV Advert for Domestos 5x Longer Bleach, an advertisement for Shell fuel, and an American advertisement for the prescription drug Crestor. He also voiced the UK and Australian TV advertisements for the PAL version of Final Fantasy XII.^[18]

Stewart also used his voice for Pontiac and Porsche automobiles and MasterCard Gold commercials in 1996, and Goodyear Assurance Tires and Crestor drugs in 2004. He provided the voice of Max Winters in TMNT in March 2007. In 2008 he is also the voice of television advertisements for Currys and Stella Artois beer.

Personal life

In 1964, Stewart met Sheila Falconer, a choreographer at the Bristol Old Vic, and they married on 4 March 1966. They have two children, Daniel Freedom and Sophie Alexandra. Daniel would later guest star as Stewart's character's son on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the episode "The Inner Light". Stewart and Falconer divorced in 1990. In 1997, he became engaged to Wendy Neuss, one of the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and they married on 25 August 2000, divorcing three years later. Four months prior to his divorce from Neuss, Stewart played opposite actress Lisa Dillon in a production of The Master Builder. The two dated for four years, but are no longer together.^[19] He was 40 years her senior. He is now seeing an American woman, who is also much younger than him: "I just don't meet women of my age," he explains.^[20]

Having lived in Los Angeles for many years, Stewart moved back to the UK in 2004. In an interview with the BBC's Gavin Esler he said this was because he was homesick and because he wanted to return to work in the theatre.^[5] He is the Chancellor and Professor Of Performing Arts of the University of Huddersfield and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours list. He is a lifelong supporter of the British Labour Party.^[21] However, his politics are rooted in his belief in fairness and equality^[5] and he has been critical of the Iraq war and recent UK government legislation in the area of civil liberties, in particular plans to extend detention without charge to 42 days. He signed an open letter of objection to this proposal in March 2008.^[22]

Stewart briefly formed a band with fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation actors Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton and Michael Dorn called The Sunspots. He was one of those interviewed for the "Red Dwarf" A–Z special (he also provided the introduction). In the documentary, he jokes that he caught a glimpse of what he thought was a 'rip-off' of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was going to phone his lawyer to sue the makers of the show.

Stewart has been lifelong friends with fellow Shakespearean and sci-fi icon Brian Blessed, whom he first met at the Bristol Old Vic. They have since starred together both on stage and in TV productions, including I, Claudius for the BBC.

During the RSC's fall 2006 residency in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Stewart made an appearance at the Ball State verses University of Michigan gridiron football game. He directed the Michigan Marching Band to the Star Trek theme song during their halftime show, then told the Wolverines "to boldly go, and beat the Buckeyes!", and after a quieting of the crowd, "Make it so, number one!" This was a reference to his trademark Star Trek phrase as well as Michigan's upcoming game against the (at that time) AP #1 ranked Ohio State University gridiron football team. Michigan would go on to lose a close, high-scoring game 39–42. Stewart is a lifelong supporter of Huddersfield Town Football Club.^[23][24]

Stewart takes part in a lot of promotional advertising for the University of Huddersfield and also attends several of the university's fifteen graduation ceremonies per year,^[25] at the last of which he was appointed Professor of Performing Arts.^[26] He also has a house dedicated to him in a high school near Huddersfield. Despite having a notable role in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart has expressed discontent about real space travel and space tourism.^[27]

Theatrical performances

Patrick Stewart signing autographs following a production of Hamlet at the RSC in July 2008.

• 1971: The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart played Tom Snout in Peter Brook's legendary production of A Midsummer Night's Dream set in a circus environment, with a cast that included Ben Kingsley and Alan Howard. The production later went on a world tour, winning Brook a Tony Award for the Broadway engagement.
• 1995: Played Prospero in The Tempest for the New York Shakespeare Festival, with the production later transferring to Broadway.
• 1997: The Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, DC), Stewart in a "photo negative" production of Othello with an otherwise all-black cast.^[28]
• 2000: On 9 April 2000, Stewart opened in Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at Broadway's Ambassador Theatre. Lukewarm reviews and poor box office convinced the producers (including the Shubert Organization) to post a closing notice and, in memorably impassioned Saturday matinée and evening curtain speeches, Stewart accused them of not being supportive, stating "Arthur Miller and I no longer have confidence in our producers' commitment to promote and publicise this extraordinarily provocative and vastly entertaining play".^[29] They subsequently took the matter to Actors Equity, which ruled that Stewart had to apologize publicly for his outburst. The incident may have affected the actor's chances at a Tony Award nomination since, despite critical praise for his performance, he failed to win one.
• 2006: Portrayed Prospero in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and then the Novello Theatre, and Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra at the Swan Theatre, for the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the cycle performing all Shakespeare's works in a year.
• 2007: He appeared at Chichester Festival Theatre^[30] during the Summer 07 Festival playing the title role in Rupert Goold's acclaimed revival of Macbeth in the Minerva studio theatre,^[31] and as a grizzled Malvolio with a Scottish accent and kilt in Philip Frank's inventive main house staging of Twelfth Night. The Chichester production of Macbeth transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London's Shaftesbury Avenue,^[32][33] where his performance won him the Best Actor Award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2007. Goold also received the Best Director Award for the production.^[34]
• 2008: The title role in Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York.
• 2008: The title role in Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre (New York). Stewart was nominated for the 2008 Tony award for Leading Actor in a Play, but lost out to fellow Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance.^[35]
• 2008: The roles of Claudius and the Ghost in Hamlet alongside David Tennant as the titular Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[36]

Filmography

References

External links

• Patrick Stewart article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Patrick Stewart provides Voiceover for Final Fantasy XII commercials
• Patrick Stewart at the Internet Broadway Database
• Patrick Stewart at the Internet Movie Database
• Patrick Stewart at the TCM Movie Database
• 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
• Mirfield - Patrick Stewart's birthplace.