How Patrick Stewart Brought Elegance to Star Trek as Jean-Luc Picard
A career across stage and screen
Stewart built a substantial theatre career alongside his film and television work. He performed Shakespearean roles including Claudius and Macbeth, and appeared in a one-man version of A Christmas Carol.
He spent 14 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, taking on roles such as Mark Antony, Henry IV, Shylock and Oberon. Later, he appeared in West End and Broadway productions of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot with his longtime friend Ian McKellen.
His 2007 Macbeth brought strong reviews and his only Tony Award nomination. Stewart said in 2008 that he had first learned the play as a teenager and had waited nearly 50 years to perform it.
From Yorkshire to Hollywood
Stewart grew up in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in a working-class household. He joined an amateur drama group at 12, memorised Shakespeare as a teenager and received a scholarship to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
His childhood included domestic violence by his father, a former British Army regimental sergeant major. Stewart later supported Refuge, a charity for people affected by domestic abuse, and became an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving into film, including the 1981 feature Excalibur. In 1987, after appearing in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, he was offered a part in a science-fiction television series.
Picard and other screen roles
Star Trek: The Next Generation lasted seven seasons and 178 episodes. Stewart’s portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard made him internationally familiar, while the character’s order “Make it so” became closely associated with the show.
He also played Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men, beginning in the 2000 film. He returned for several later films, including Logan in 2017, alongside Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Queen Elizabeth II knighted Stewart in June 2010. His death came days after Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series, which aired from 1966 to 1969.
Key points
- Stewart died at 86 in Los Angeles after living with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
- He played Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran for seven seasons and 178 episodes.
- His stage work included 14 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Tony-nominated Macbeth.
- Stewart also portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films.