PATRICK STEWART, FROM ENGLISH STAGE TO STAR TREK

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Patrick Stewart, the English actor who was born on a day like today in 1940.

Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of stage and screen, he has received various accolades, including two Laurence Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama in 2010.

In 1966, Stewart became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his Broadway theatre debut in 1971 in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In 1979, he received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Antony and Cleopatra in the West End. His first television role was in Coronation Street in 1967. His first major screen roles were in Fall of Eagles (1974), I, Claudius (1976) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979).

In 2008 he reprised his role as King Claudius in Hamlet and received his second Olivier Award and his first Tony Award nomination for respectively the West End and Broadway theatre productions.

Stewart gained international stardom for his leading role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), its subsequent films and Star Trek: Picard (2020-23). He starred as Captain Ahab in the USA miniseries Moby Dick (1998), Ebenezer Scrooge in TNT television film A Christmas Carol (1999) and King Henry II in the Showtime made-for-television film The Lion in Winter (2003). He also became known for his comedic appearances on sitcoms Frasier and Extras for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination. He also starred as the lead of Blunt Talk (2015-2016). He currently voices Avery Bullock on American Dad!.

Stewart's first film role was in Trevor Nunn's Hedda (1975) followed by roles in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981) and David Lynch's Dune (1984). He gained further stardom when he portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series (2000-2014), Logan (2017) and an alternate version of Xavier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). He has acted in films such as L.A. Story (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), Jeffrey (1995) and The Kid Who Would Be King (2019). He has also voiced roles in The Pagemaster (1994), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Chicken Little (2005), Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) and Ted (2012).

Patrick Stewart was born in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 13 July 1940.

Stewart's first professional stage appearance was on 19 May 1959 at the Theatre Royal, Bristol (for the Bristol Old Vic Company), playing Cutpurse (a thief among the audience for the play-within-a-play) in Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by John Hale.

Over the years, Stewart took roles in many major television series without ever becoming a household name.

Stewart was picked for the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).

From 1994 to 2002, he also portrayed Picard in the films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002); and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode Emissary, and received a 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.

More information: Instagram-Patrick Stewart

 You get all of your neuroses worked out on stage.
I haven't actually played very many nice characters,
certainly not on stage. It's not a quality that attracts me.

Patrick Stewart