Patrick Stewart OBE

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Biography

Patrick Stewart OBE is Notable.

Sir Patrick Stewart is a British actor whose career has included roles on stage, television, and film in a career spanning almost six decades. He is a multiple time Olivier, Golden Globe, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Saturn Award nominee. ^[1]

Patrick Stewart was born on 13 July 1940 in Camm Lane, Mirfield, Yorkshire, England to Alfred Stewart and Gladys (Barrowclough) Stewart, the youngest of three boys. ^[2]

Stewart grew up in Jarrow, which historically was in County Durham, and later in Tyneside, England. He credits his junior school English teacher, Cecil Dormand, with the inspiration for an acting career. Dormand "put a copy of Shakespeare in [my] hand and said 'Now get up on your feet and perform'." ^[3]

After several brief jobs, he and his friend, Brian Blessed, received grants to enable them to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Then came Manchester's Library Theatre and, in 1966 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.

From 1975, Stewart acted in many television shows, including I, Claudius; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Smiley's People; and Hamlet. He also played leading roles in BBC productions such as North and South and Maybury, and minor roles in Excalibur, Dune, and Lifeforce.

In 1987 came his break as the iconic Captain Picard in Star Trek:The Next Generation (he was known in the press as 'an unknown British Shakespearean actor'). Stewart was reluctant to sign a long contract, believing that the show would fail. He added a middle name, because at the time there was already a Patrick Stewart in the Screen Actors Guild, so he became Patrick Hewes Stewart. ^[4] He also played Picard in 4 films from 1994, and appeared in the Star Trek spinoff Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In 1995 he received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for 'Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series'.

It really wasn't until the first season ended [when] I went to my first Star Trek convention ... [I] had expected that I would be standing in front of a few hundred people and found that there were two and a half thousand people and that they already knew more about me than I could ever possibly have believed. Stewart, on when he realised he had become famous ^[5]

Patrick Stewart has said that he is 'very proud' of his work as Captain Picard, and that all his years playing Shakespeare were just in preparation for sitting in the captain's chair. He was also very grateful for Gene Roddenberry's response to a reporter:
Reporter: Surely they would have cured baldness by the 24th century?
Roddenberry: In the 24th century, they wouldn't care. ^[6]

"It came to a point where I had no idea where Picard began and I ended. We completely overlapped. His voice became my voice, and there were other elements of him that became me." ^[7]

In the 1990s, despite being typecast as Picard, Stewart appeared as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series. The series ran to seven films featuring Stewart, and he voiced the role in several video games. He won several awards for his portrayals in other films, as well - King Henry II in The Lion in Winter, Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, and Ebenezer Scrooge in 'A Christmas Carol'. Many TV shows have included Stewart as a guest star, such as Top Gear, Extras, and Charlie's Angels. In 1996, Patrick Stewart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Stewart regretted his hiatus from acting on the stage, so began writing one-man shows, such as A Christmas Carol in which he played all forty parts. He performed it on Broadway in 1991, 1992, and 1994, receiving the Drama Desk Award and the Laurence Olivier Award in 1994. He continued acting in Shakespeare plays, including The Tempest. In 1997 he played Othello in a 'photo negative' production of Othello - a white Othello with a black cast. Stewart has appeared in over 60 productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 2004, he was made chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. He has become a professor of performing arts, and teaches master classes.

In 2006, Stewart created a scholarship at the University of Huddersfield to fund post-graduate study into domestic violence. He is a patron of Refuge (a UK charity for abused women), and also supports the charity Combat Stress, since he discovered his father suffered from post-traumatic stress during his appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? (TV series). ^[8]

He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to drama. ^{[9] [10]} Previously (2001) he had received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire. ^[11]

Sir Patrick has branched out into voice acting. With his deep, authoritative voice he is in great demand, not just for his character in Star Trek and X-Men, but also for various video games such as The Sims Medieval, commercials for Pontiac and Porsche, series such as American Dad!, and the MMOG LEGO Universe.

Sir Patrick Stewart receiving Peabody Award

In 2012, Sir Patrick carried the Olympic Torch as part of the official relay for the Summer Olympics of 2012. In 2018, he was voted third greatest Yorkshireman after Monty Python's Michael Palin and actor Sean Bean.

He shares the Guinness World Record for the longest portrayal of a superhero - Professor X - with Hugh Jackman (for Wolverine).

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia:Patrick_Stewart
2. ↑ England & Wales birth registration: Spen Valley [district], Volume 9b, Page 909. September quarter 1940, mother's maiden name BARROWCLOUGH [Spen Valley Registration District covers Mirfield]
3. ↑ Star Trek star Patrick Stewart knighted at Palace, BBC Online, 2 June 2010
4. ↑ Patrick Stewart on Doing Standup, Nicknames and Crazy Fan Encounters
5. ↑ Patrick Stewart - Jean Luc Picard, Captain of the Enterprise
6. ↑ 3 Bald encounters on the set of Star Trek
7. ↑ Patrick Stewart: Keep on trekkin', 4 Nov 2007
8. ↑ "Patrick Stewart - Who do You Think You Are?", The Genealogist, 29 August 2012
9. ↑ Star Trek star Patrick Stewart knighted at Palace
10. ↑ The London Gazette, 31 December 2009
11. ↑ The London Gazette, 30 December 2000

See Also:

• http://ethnicelebs.com/patrick-stewart
• http://www.mirfieldmemories.co.uk/patrick_stewart.htm
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001772/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm