On Oct. 28, British actor Sir Patrick Stewart passed away at his Los Angeles home at the age of 86 due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
With a career spanning over 60 years, Stewart had the rare distinction of excelling in TV, film, and on stage. In all three mediums, he found legions of devoted fans.
Born on July 13, 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, Stewart was the third of three brothers who grew up in an abusive household.
From Obits to Footlights
Eager to get his career going, Stewart left school at 15 and took a job at a local newspaper writing obituaries of recently departed locals. Quickly figuring out this wasn’t his calling, Stewart did what many a British would-be thespian before him tried: He began ingratiating himself into the tiny world of live theater.
It took a while, but in 1965 at the age of 25, Stewart got his big break starring as Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” at the Old Vic Theatre in Bristol. Unlike a great many other less talented actors, Stewart never stopped working on British and American stages. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.
For the next half century, Stewart starred in many other Shakespeare works as well as those by Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, David Mamet, Charles Dickens, Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, Henrik Ibsen, Edward Bond, Ben Jonson, and Tom Stoppard.
Next Up: The Small Screen
Barely two years into his stage career, Stewart began guesting on episodic British TV. It is worth noting that none of the productions featured Stewart as a regular cast member. There’s been speculation as to the reason for this. The most logical is that he didn’t want to commit months, or even years, to a single show.
Others cite his continued stage work, while some insist Stewart was looking to break into feature films. He did with a role in a 1975 adaption of Ibsen’s “Hedda” for director Trevor Nunn.
For the next 10 years, Stewart could rightfully be called “the hardest working man in show business.” During this stretch, Stewart appeared in a combined 32 TV shows, movies, and stage productions.
In 1986, he received the phone call that would shift his career into overdrive and change his life forever.
Captain Picard, I Presume
Beginning in 1987, Stewart began the first of seven seasons playing lead character Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the USS Starship Enterprise in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
For the first two seasons, the show received middling ratings and a lukewarm response from the Star Trek faithful (aka “Trekkies”). But from the third season until it ended in 1994, it was a ratings force. It finally won over an incredibly hard-to-please fanbase.
Given the strong finish of the series, producing multiple theatrical features was pretty much a no-brainer. While the quality of those four movies varied greatly, they all did well at the box office.
The most notable of these was “Star Trek Generations” (1994); Stewart shared top-billing with William Shatner, who appeared as James T. Kirk, the captain in the original “Star Trek” series (1966–1969).
Not long after the “Generations” stint ended, Stewart followed Shatner’s years-old lead by adopting a self-deprecating sense of humor at the expense of the Picard character in “Saturday Night Live,” “Family Guy,” “Robot Chicken,” and “The Daily Show.”
Speaking Bluntly
Fearing “Generations” type-casted him, Stewart was reticent to take another full-time TV job until 2015 with the short-lived Starz series “Blunt Talk.” In it, he played a puffed up English newscaster trying to break through on U.S. premium cable.
In 2020, Stewart concluded the TV phase of his career by reprising the Picard character in “Star Trek: Picard” for three seasons.
Having accomplished more than most actors could ever dream of, Stewart then returned to feature films, playing Professor Charles Xavier, aka Professor X. He would appear in what would eventually be seven “X-Men” movies. They were all over the place quality-wise but crushed it at the box office.
Stewart’s final feature film will be as Professor X in “Avengers: Doomsday” due out on Dec. 18, after two release date changes.
Stewart’s fourth and least-known field of endeavor was providing voiceover work for video games. Starting in 1994 and through 2025, he contributed to 29 different games, most of which based on the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises.
In his lifetime, Stewart amassed numerous accolades. He received one Critics’ Choice Award, a Grammy, two Laurence Olivier Awards, a single Drama Desk, two Astra Awards, three Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award.
In 2001, he received a British OBE (Order of the British Empire), and in 2010 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Stewart is survived by his children Daniel and Sophia, and his widow and third wife, musician Sunny Ozell. He and Ozell were married in 2013.
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