Oh damn.
My introduction to Patrick Stewart was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Playing Shakespeare.
He will always be my Gurney Halleck.
Although Stewart will be remembered for Star Trek and playing Professor X, he was also magnificent as Sejanus in I, Claudius. A great loss. But an immortal body of work.
He was amazing in the film version of Macbeth.
That man could make you feel things. You take something as cheesy as TNG could be and he somehow made you believe it.
He was also wildly funny as Stan’s boss in American Dad.
Wow, what a week. Captain Picard, Ensign Chekov, and Mrs Barney Miller.
Are there still four lights?
He also turned in an impressive late-career performance alongside Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot.
One of my now-favorite stories about Stewart is one I only learned about fairly recently, when he revealed it in his autobiography:
Oh this one stings, so many fine roles.
Stewart was able to bring that classic gravitas to roles in popular entertainment such as Picard or Xavier without overburdening them.
He also displayed a fine sense of humour and whimsy. I remember when the “ice bucket challenge” was going around, he did a spot in his socials where he brought in the ice bucket, then sat down and wrote a check, put some of the ice in a glass and poured himself a drink. Loved it.
And yes, I got to see him live onstage: in A Life in the Theater back in 2010 on Broadway.
After he paralyzes everyone in the casino and Logan is wheeling him out, and he’s just helplessly repeating “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” is heartbreaking.
And he played that so filthy, much of it about Stan’s daughter.
“…I left most of my electrolytes with your daughter.”
Only Sir Patrick could make that line sound classy.
The writing in that entire scene is great. Wearing her pink bathrobe, singing “Little Girls” by Oingo Bingo, and Stewart was all in on the silliness of the character all the time.
Because I didn’t watch any Next Generation Star Trek until years later I first saw him in, of all things, Lady Jane, playing Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, Lady Jane’s father. Also the first time I saw Helena Bonham Carter (her first leading role) or Cary Elwes. When years later I finally got around to watching him as Luc Picard, I was initially startled - it’s the Duke of Suffolk!
Guy was timelessly regal and best of all was a pragmatic working actor happy to poke fun at himself.
As somebody said above, this truly, really hurts.
I’m crying, Picard was one of those fictional characters that are important in one’s life.
I saw that, twice, in New York and I’ll never forget. It was magnificent!!
Well, Dune is over - since it’s the holiday season, tonight is going to be Lifeforce to continue the tribute.
The first role I noticed him in was Dune in 1984. The character was written pretty badly (in my estimation) but he managed to make it interesting. But I didn’t really pay attention to the name of the actor, it was not a huge role, after all.
The next thing I noticed him in was Star Trek TNG. Those first scenes were so different, and I was so happy that they were so different, from TOS. No swashbuckling hero he, but a serious, dedicated, thoughtful, human Captain, one with depth and subtlety and craftiness and good sense. A hero that I could relate to and admire.
I do disagree with this. He was only 47 when he started playing Picard, but being bald (though ever so fit) he looked older, and it took him a while to become the age he looked. But in the last 10 years or maybe more, he was showing his age, along with his voice going gravelly. Much more than Ian McKellen, who is a year older, and seems still to be vigorous and smooth (and long may he wave).
I forgot about that. Yes, he was amazing!
Inconceiveable!