Sir Patrick Stewart, the beloved actor of stage, screen, and television, died Wednesday following “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s dise
Sir Patrick Stewart, the beloved actor of stage, screen, and television, died Wednesday following “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia,” according to his representative, Kelly Bush Novak. The performer, best known in this and every other star system as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise, first appeared in the legendary role in September 1987. After seven seasons of television, four feature films, several video games, and site-specific interactive experiences, he returned to the character in the age of streaming, finally warping to retirement, surrounded by his crew, in January of 2020. He was 79 years aged.
Stewart began his long and prosperous life in Yorkshire, England, the youngest of three boys. His father was a World War II veteran, and, as Stewart discussed, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. Witnessing violence against his mother as a child led to his later charity work for causes surrounding domestic violence.
He took theater classes in his youth and befriended a slightly older local lad, the actor-mountaineer Brian Blessed. He went on to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a miniature, competitive conservatory that began with initial backing from Sir Laurence Olivier, and boasts Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Colman, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, and many others as alumni.
In 1966, at age 26, Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, one of the most prestigious theater companies in Britain. He remained with the group until 1982. During his time there he appeared as the lead in The Life and Death of King John, as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and over 80 other roles, both at the RSC’s main home in Stratford-upon-Avon, in London, and on tour. During this part of his career, he also appeared in supporting roles on television. The two most notable were the BBC production of I, Clavdivs, in which he played Emperor Tiberius’s double-crossing Praetorian guard Sejanus opposite a who’s who of British thespians (Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Siân Phillips, Bernard Hill, John Rhys-Davies, Stewart’s aged chum Brian Blessed, just to name a few), and as the evil mastermind Karla opposite Sir Alec Guinness in the adaptation of John Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People.
As the 1970s turned to the 1980s, there were some film roles of note, including the part of Leondegrace in John Boorman’s Excalibur and Gurney Halleck in David Lynch’s version of Frank Herbert’s Dune. At one moment in the film, he leads a charge into battle clutching a cute li’ll pug. (This same character, without the employ of domesticated pets, was played by Josh Brolin in the more recent iteration.)
