It has been a heartbreaking week, as William Shatner rightly noted in his mourning post for the death of Patrick Stewart. It has certainly been so for fans of Star Trek, who loved him as Picard in The Next Generation and in the newer, eponymous series, after the passing of veteran Walter Koenig, and for fans of X‑Men, who appreciated the actor on the big screen and — like yours truly — had the pleasure of meeting him twice and of feeling firsthand the charisma, intelligence and warmth he exuded. The first time was when he came to present one of the films of The Next Generation, perhaps Generations, though it was still in the nineties, and after an exhaustive chat (there were four of us, all ST fans) he willingly posed for photos and autographs. The last time took place during the Lucca Comics & Games 2020 presentation of Star Trek: Picard, as you can read below, and the emotion swept through the Teatro del Giglio during the audience and fan meetup when the actor, inspired by the venue, stood up and declaimed Shakespeare. The stage boards, as many know, were his element, and he began treading them from a young age. The theatre earned him two prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards for his supporting roles in Antony and Cleopatra and Hamlet. But Sir Patrick was by no means a snob, and like many illustrious colleagues, including Ian McKellen, with whom in 1977 he acted in a Tom Stoppard play, and then in 2014 taking to Broadway Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land, he approached superhero movie roles and serious parts with the same spirit.
Patrick Stewart’s career has been long and prolific, but to bring him to the broad public’s attention, it required a television series, indeed. Having joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at 26, he began appearing on television in 1964 in series such as Theatre 625 and Coronation Street and in adaptations of stage plays. He entered cinema for the first time in 1965 in The Longest Day of Scotland Yard. In 1981 he played Leondegrance in Excalibur and three years later he portrayed Gurney Halleck in David Lynch’s Dune, but he also performed in comedies such as Robin Hood – Men in Tights by Mel Brooks, where he embodied King Richard, and Pazzi a Beverly Hills. In 1987 the Star Trek: The Next Generation adventure began in the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a colossal success that made him extraordinarily popular and continued for 176 episodes until 1994. After the show ended, he resumed the character in four films; Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Star Trek – Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek – Nemesis (2002). In 2000 he portrayed opposite Ian McKellen as Magneto, the Professor X in the first X‑Men film and would return to play him in six more movies, the last of which, in 2017, is Logan – Wolverine, while in Wolverine – The Immortal he has an uncredited cameo (and we would later see him again in Avengers – Doomsday, his final appearance).
Blessed with a gorgeous voice, he does not spurn voice acting for video games and animated films such as Chicken Little, Gnomeo & Juliet and Ice Age: Continental Drift, or in series such as The Simpsons and Futurama. In 2015 he appears on the cinema screen in Green Room, and is the original narrator of the two Ted films. From 2020 to 2023 he reprises his most famous television character in Star Trek: Picard, for a total of 30 episodes. In 2022 he appears in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. More recently he lends his voice to characters in Sheep Undercover and American Dad! In total he has over 160 credits to his name. In 2010 for his contribution to theatre he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Although he was elderly, his death came as a surprise to us and we knew nothing of his health, which evidently deteriorated rapidly. We want to remember him as we saw him, cheerful, with his laughter, his incredible voice, his magnetic gaze and the ability to give humanity to every character with a talent he showcased in both classic drama and in the grand, popular spectacle (it is certainly no coincidence that his Picard echoes certain Shakespearean figures).
(photo Wikimedia Commons, @ Gage Skidmore, Peoria, 2019)
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