‘What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived’: remembering actor Patrick Stewart

At the end of Star Trek: Generations (1994), surveying the wreckage of the crashed USS Enterprise he captained for nearly a decade, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) muses to his first officer, William Riker (Jonathan Frakes):

… time is a companion that goes with us on the journey, reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived.

Smiling, he quips to Riker, “After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.”

Passing away this week at 86 years old, we are sadly reminded of that mortality with the death of Sir Patrick Stewart: actor, dramaturge, Shakespearean exemplar, mutant professor, and distinguished Starfleet captain.

From humble beginnings

Born in Mirfield, England, in 1940, Stewart grew up poor during the worst days of the second world war.

He found his calling to theatre as a child, thanks to a keen-eyed English teacher and a copy of Shakespeare’s plays.

He left school at 15 to become a working actor in community theatre.

His extraordinary talent would lead to a stay at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, membership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a host of acclaimed theatre performances.

Despite the many screen roles for which Stewart would later be known, his Shakespearean roots are indelibly intertwined with almost every performance he gave.

They would also give him – and many of us – something to lighten the load of COVID lockdowns. Stewart used social media in 2020 to read the internet a Shakespearean sonnet each day, later turning his delightful orations into an audiobook.

For most, Stewart will best be remembered as a kaleidoscopic titan of film and television.

Beginning as a firefighter on the British soap opera Coronation Street in 1967, Stewart’s illustrious screen career spanned more than 50 years and a vast array of roles.

To name only a few, he was:

• a flamboyant interior designer
• a stoic Atreides weapon master in a screen adaptation of the Dune books
• the irreverent king of England
• a foul-mouthed CIA deputy director
• an enigmatic cult leader, and
• a megalomaniacal egg-alien overlord.

Two key roles

From his storied body of work, two roles loom largest.

He was the telepathic mutant and academic Charles Xavier of the X-Men film series – a role he played for more than 25 years, including a posthumous appearance in Avengers: Doomsday (released this December).

As Professor X, Stewart embodied a beloved superhero with paternal warmth and secretive, calculating intellect. He was an empathetic leader of a team of extraordinary people who had been shunned, threatened and harmed by the world for their differences.

One cannot help but think this role enabled Stewart to channel much of his real-life allyship with marginalised queer communities and his support for survivors of domestic violence (which was based on his own childhood experiences).

In this role, Stewart acted alongside his long-time friend Sir Ian McKellen, who played the mutant antagonist and master of metal Magneto. Ironically, McKellen had once warned Stewart not to forsake the theatre for the screen, advising that a career in film and television would go nowhere.

Stewart and McKellen’s endearing friendship and acclaimed X-Men performances became the stuff of internet legend, particularly when McKellen officiated Stewart’s wedding to US singer Sunny Ozell in 2013.

Stewart’s work in Star Trek as Jean-Luc Picard – captain (later admiral) of the USS Enterprise – is equally revered.

As Stewart’s first major American television role, he took the captain’s chair in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. He would eventually appear in seven seasons, four theatrical films, and the recent sequel series Star Trek: Picard.

Despite initial reservations – including an infamous on-set incident where he stoically told his rambunctious Next Generation colleagues that “we are not here to have fun” – Stewart later embraced the role of Picard. He will be remembered as one of Star Trek’s most acclaimed and legendary performers.

As Picard, Stewart created a potent role model in a franchise focused on an inclusive, utopian future.

Stewart’s Picard was a respected leader, intergalactic explorer, keen orator, Shakespeare enthusiast, thoughtful diplomat, archaeology aficionado, and prolific tea-drinker – as he and other characters famously said, “tea, Earl Grey, hot”.

This captain was an inspiring beacon of hope, curiosity and discovery. He advocated Starfleet ideals of exploration and community, but encouraged his crew – and, by extension, all of us – to seek out knowledge. He urged us all to solve problems with rationality and empathy, and work toward a better future for humanity.

An enduring inspiration

Like many others who grew up in the 1990s with Picard on the television, I still find the character’s ethos and Stewart’s performance have a profound impact on me as a scholar and educator who strives to live and teach by those ideals.

Were it not for the inspiration Picard and Stewart provided me as a child, I may not have become an academic.

Stewart lived the kind of important life that Picard would admire, and leaves behind a cherished body of work, as well as a legacy of dedicated social advocacy.