Patrick Stewart, star of stage, screen, game, and Starfleet, has passed away

Patrick Stewart, star of stage, screen, game, and Starfleet, has passed away

“The actor and human rights advocate was 86”

It’s strange and sad that in the same week that we lost Eric Bauza, man of a thousand voices, we have now lost Sir Patrick Stewart, one of the most consistent and heralded entertainers of all time. Stewart rarely altered his signature tone, but his confidence, commitment, and intensity made him perfect for nearly any type of role, from kindly psychic school teachers to evil skinhead ringleaders. He was unafraid to take on any genre, from sci-fi and horror to comedy and drama. He was one of the few actors who could go from Shakespeare to Star Trek at light speed without missing a beat, boldly going from one strange new project to the next, always willing to explore the outer reaches of his power to perform.

Bravery was something that Stewart was forced to learn at a young age. As he wrote in Making It So, his personal memoir, Stewart’s father was a WWII veteran with PTSD. Once home from war, he became physically abusive towards Stewart’s mother, and young Patrick and his brother Trevor were powerless to stop him. These traumatic experiences led Stewart to carry a burden of guilt and shame throughout much of his early life. Hiding the truth of what he and his family had endured sometimes made him feel invisible. Later, he would be a loud and proud advocate for women, the LGBTQA+ community, and all marginalized groups.  But before he gained a platform large enough to fight for others, he first needed to get on the stage himself. With so much bottled up, he began pursuing acting at the age of 12, where he began developing a performing style that was impossible to ignore.

But Stewart was skilled at more than just keeping eyes on him. More importantly, he was able to infuse any role, big or small, grounded or fantastic, with a powerful emotional honesty. In Star Trek: The Next Generation S.4 Ep.2, entitled “Family”, Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard returns home to France to reconnect with his brother. Instead of exploring alien worlds and new civilizations, Stewart’s Picard explores his own inner world, and the risks to his psyche are just as treacherous as any he’d face in outer space. Before long, Jean-Luc is in a vineyard fighting with his older brother, and eventually, crying with him, deep, echoing sobs of remorse over things he could not control, but still blames himself for. It was moments like this that led Stewart to not only elevate Star Trek, but himself as a part of our culture, and dare we say it, a sex symbol.

Bald men don’t usually get to play the attractive leading man on television, but Stewart managed to break through that hairline-induced glass ceiling to become one of the most desired men on the small screen. His focused, caring, strong, and thoughtful brand of masculinity pushed through whatever standards of male beauty may have held back lesser performers. And every moment he was on screen was rooted in truth. There’s nothing more attractive than that.

Not satisfied with keeping all the attention to himself, Stewart was a consistent and stalwart advocate for human and animal rights. Some of the causes he has supported through the years include Refuge (the UK’s most extensive provider of shelters for women and children escaping domestic violence) Combat Stress (a leading charity in the UK for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder), Dignity in Dying (a campaign for choice and end of life human rights) and the ASPCA) campaigning for their National Dog Fighting Awareness Day).

Avengers: Doomsday will likely mark Stewart's final on-screen performance, where he will show the final moments of his iteration of the Charles Xavier to a close. He’ll do so alongside Sir Ian McKellen, his longtime friend, as they grieve the passing of their world together. There will not likely be a dry eye in the house when theatergoers see Stewart in the film this December. If Xavier does indeed die in Doomsday, it will be at least the fourth time we’ve seen that happen in a movie, making the loss of the fictional character somewhat anti-climactic. But the loss of the man, Patrick Stewart, a father figure and aspirational leader to an entire generation, has already spread a wave of grief throughout the world. In his passing, we hope that Patrick Stewart knew that his work, and his life, will inspire millions for years to come.