A hugely respected actor but for Patrick Stewart it was in two popular pop culture roles that he gained international stardom.
Patrick Stewart – where it all started…..
Born 13th July 1940 in Mirfield, West Yorkshire to a postman father (who served as a sergeant during WWII) and a textile worker mother who was victim to her husband’s violent ousburts. His mother had enjoyed amateur dramatics and had encouraged her children to take part. Stewart found solace in school with English being his favourite subject and his teacher encouraged him to read Shakespeare. However at 15 he left school working as a salesman and later a journalist for a local paper.
But he was increasingly drawn to drama and acting enrolling on a course with Brian Blessed with both men getting grants to join Bristol Old Vic in the late 1950’s and spent years in repertory theatre before Stewart was cast in Trevor Nunn’s RSC productions alongside Ian Richardson, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley. In 1966 he married actress Sheila Falconer with whom he had two children and his RSC work saw him flit back and fore between Stratford upon Avon and London in various productions. 1967 was the year he made his TV debut in an episode of Coronation Street
By the 1970’s he was being cast for TV roles most notably in ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ but he maintained his theatre work to much acclaim but never really making him a major star at that point in his career and was rarely ever cast as a main character and by now in was in his mid 40’s.
By the 1980’s Patrick Stewart was appearing feature films that include John Boorman’s ‘Excalibar’, David Lynch’s ‘Dune’, as well as Wild geese II and space vampire film ‘Life Force’. But then came the role that would change his career.
The star making role …..
Producer Robert Justman was set on reviving Star Trek and needed a replacement for William Sharner’s iconic Captain James T.Kirk and had wanted a French man for the role ( who knows why as he would have surrendered at the first sight of any Klingons!) but by chance the producer attended his wife’s LA theatre class where Stewart was giving a lecture. “I said I think I’ve found our new captain,” he told his wife afterwards.
Patrick Stewart knew little about Star Trek and his friend Ian McKellen warned him against throwing away his theatre career on something so trivial. But like any jobbing actor finances was always a consideration and he signed a six year contract but thought it was unlikely the show would last. Stewart had started losing his hair when he was just 18 and was wholly bald by 20 and it was not an issue for the producers although they did do screen tests with him wearing a wig and it was Gene Roddenberry who had him ditch it.
It was a change of pace for the actor more used to a few hours on stage he was now working an exhausting 18 hours a day on set and was rumoured to have baulked at fellow cast members far more casual approach to the work. But Stewart began to settle into the role and life on set. The series was a hit and made him financially secure and he became very protective of the role. Having divorced his first wife in 1990 the series would be where he met his second wife Wendy Neuss one of the shows producers
The rise of Professor X…
The success of the series and the profile it now gave him found him now being offered far better theatre roles yet at the same time his film roles that Hollywood offered were akin to a bass voiced bald Englishman but perhaps it was that which saw him land his second iconic big screen role as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films. Ironically acting opposite him was Ian McKellen who had warned him about frittering away his career on Star Trek. But despite this he was given an OBE in 2001.
He appeared throughout the X-men film franchise and spins offs during which he divorced in 2004. The following year would make a cameo appearance in Ricky Gervais’ ‘Extras’ as an actor developing his own script where all the female characters clothes fell off telling Gervais’ character ‘and I could see everything’.
His film between the franchises were largely forgettable even if they did occasionally have Shakespearean connections (Bill Shakespeare in Gnomeo & Juliet) but he did return to the stage in a rightly acclaimed double act with McKellen in 2009’s Waiting for Godot which played in London and Broadway.
Having been knighted in 2010 he was involved in a well publicized and unedifying spat at an awards ceremony with James Corden of which neither came out of it well. Stewart deeply regretted the altercation and the pair later reconciled appearing in a comedy sketch
By 2013 he married his third wife, singer/songwriter Suny Ozell where McKellen officiated in Nevada which was restaged in LA when it was found that McKellen’s legal powers did not apply in Nevada.
Outside of his career on stage and in film Patrick Stewart was a Labour supporter and campaigner for victims of domestic abuse as well as supporter of Huddersfield FC, enjoyed Grand Prix racing, beekeepjng and jigsaws!
His last role saw him return to playing Professor X in the much anticipated ‘Avengers Doomsday’.
On 28th October 2026 he passed away having suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 86 years of age.
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