Goodnight, Sir Patrick Stewart

“He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” Bush Novak wrote. “We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.”

Long before he gained worldwide fame as Jean-Luc Picard or Professor Charles Xavier, he was a noted Shakespearean actor in his native Britain. Staid and proper on the stage, he later gained quite the sense of humor from his fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation actors, which he kept throughout his life.

“Those guys taught me that you can do good work and have a good time at the same time,” he said in 2013 in an interview with the Toronto Star. “Before that, I had always thought the two were unconnected completely.”

In the late 1980s, Stewart had decades of classical theater work in England under his belt but was unfamiliar in America when he was given command of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Star Trek: The Next Generation producer Robert Justman attented a UCLA lecture featuring Stewart and saw him reading from Shakespeare. Justman called the actor in for an audition against the wishes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who didn’t think a bald Brit could be the face of the new series.

After a contentious casting process, Stewart won over Roddenberry and signed a long-term contract to play Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, thinking he was safe in doing so, because there was no way the show would last beyond one season.

“Every single person I spoke to — agents, directors, screenwriters, other actors — said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about six years. You’ll be lucky to make it through the first year,’ ” Stewart said in an interview in 2010. “Everybody felt it was madness to try to revive an iconic series like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy‘s Star Trek. So, on the basis of that advice, I signed the six-year contract.”

Early Life

Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, to Alfred and Gladys Stewart. His father worked as a semi-skilled laborer and was a veteran of World War II, among the last men evacuated from Dunkirk.

A heavy drinker, Alfred was physically abusive toward his wife, but not his three sons. It was only decades later that Stewart learned his dad’s violent behavior likely stemmed from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.

The youngest in the family, Stewart found himself terrified at home and often tasked with getting between his father’s fists and his mother. Growing up under those circumstances led him to advocate for veterans as well as domestic abuse victims later in life.

Sci-Fi Fantasy, and Horror Roles

• Gurney Halleck in Dune (1984)
• Charles Xavier in…. X-Men (2000), X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), The Wolverine (2013) X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Logan (2017),Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and four video and computer games.
• Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)
• Sir Simon de Canterville in The Canterville Ghost (1996)
• Leondegrance in Excalibur (1981)
• King Richard the Lionhearted in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
• Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1999)
• Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island (2005)
• Professor Macklin in The Doctor and the Devils (1985)
• Dr. Armstrong in Lifeforce (1985)
• The great Prince of the Forest in Bambi II (2006)
• Narrator in The Fifth Voyage of Sinbad (2014)
• Darcy in The Green Room (2015)
• Narrator, in Dear Satan (2017)

Other Roles in Other Movies and TV Shows

• John Bosley in Charlie’s Angels (2019)
• The Duke of Suffolk in Lady Jane (1986)
• King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (2003)
• John Lear in King of Texas (2002)
•  Older Dent McSkimming in The Game of Their Lives (2005); Terry Kenney played younger Dent Skimming
• Captain Ahab in Moby Dick
• Sejanus in I, Claudius
• Karla in Smiley’s People and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Professor Ian Hood in Eleventh Hour
• Captain Cook in Wayfinders (1998)
• Bentley in Masterminds (1997)
• Dr, Jonas in Conspiracy Theory (1997)
• John Thornton in North and South (1975)
• Ejlert Løvborg in Hedda (1975)maître d’ at L’Idiot in L.A. Story (1991)
• The narrator in the R-rated teddy bear film Ted (2012), written and directed by Seth MacFarlane of The Orville fame.
• Lenin in Fall of Eagles
• Sterling in Jeffrey (1995)
• Col. Peters in Code Name Emerald (1985)
• Malcolm Philpott in Death Train (1993)

Voicework

With his deep, rich, Shakespearean trained voice, and his English accent, Sir Patrick Stewart was in great demand as a voice actor.

Appropriately, he was Shakespeare in Touchstone Pictures’ Gnomeo and Juliet (2011). He’s been King Goobot in Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2001)and Ariscratle in Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012). He voiced Drago in Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire (2017). He courageously voiced Poop in The Emoji Movie (2017). Sir Patrick has a recurring role on American Dad! as Avery Bullock, Sr. In Dragon Rider (2020) he voiced Nettlebrand. In Dreamworks’ Prince of Egypt (1998), Sir Patrick voiced Pharaoh Seti. In Pagemaster (1994), he voiced Adventure. In Disney’s Chicken Little (2005), Sir Patrick voiced Mr. Woolensworth. He was Tugg in Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (2013).

He recorded three audio-books, The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis, which is the seventh and final book of the Chronicles of Narnia. The others were A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and his own memoirs, Making It So: A Memoir.

Sir Patrick’s video games are legion. He’s reprised Charles Xavier in X-Men: the Official Game , X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse, X-Men Legends, and X-Men: The Next Dimension…… He returned to the role of Jean-Luc Picard for 11 video games: Star Trek: Legacy, Borg War, Star Trek: Elite Force II., Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Star Trek, Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Armada II, Star Trek: Invasion, Star Trek: Armada, Star Trek: Hidden Evil, Star Trek Generations, and Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Final Unity.

He was the narrator for Felix the Reaper and My Memory of Us. He was Zobek in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its sequel, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. He voiced Emperor Uriel Septim VII in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone he voiced Khelban “Blackstaff” Arunsun. In Legends of Lore: Throne of Chaos, he was King Richard.

Family

Sir Patrick was the son of a WWII veteran who suffered from PTSD. Sir Patrick and his mother suffered domestic abuse at the hands of his father, which was why he was an advocate and fundraiser for PTSD and domestic abuse charities. Sir Patrick himself was married three times and divorced twice.

He leaves behind two children, a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Sophie.

In the 2001 New Year Honours list, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and he was knighted by her in 2010. “I never imagined anything like that could possibly happen to me, and in fact, it is still a significant unreality to me,” he said.

Stewart was married three times. He wed theater choreographer Sheila Falconer in 1966, and the pair remained together until 1990. They had two children, Daniel — who appeared in Blunt Talk — and Sophia. He was married to Star Trek producer Wendy Neuss from 2000-03 before wedding jazz musician Sunny Ozell in a 2013 ceremony officiated by McKellen.

“Like me, Jean-Luc has lived an unusual life that has taken him far beyond the bounds of normal human experience,” he wrote in his 2023 memoir, Making It So. “But he is also someone who has remained true to his earthbound roots, for they are what gave him his identity. In the end, he feels the call of home, as do I.”

A Farewell

We are gobsmacked at the death of this miracle of a man, who led us on so many adventures. We offer our condolences to his family and his fans alike, though these seem insignificant in the face of who Stewart was, and the man he became.

Rest well, Captain. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.