<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1, we spent a good deal of time detailing how a young Patrick Stewart managed to make the transition from being a barely educated Northern lad from Yorkshire to a full time student at the Bristol Old Vic School of acting.\u00a0 In his 2023 Memoir <\/span>Making It So <\/span><\/i>(Gallery Books, Camm Lane, Inc), Stewart gives an interesting account of how he managed to take a fork in the road that kept him from ending up as a tradesman or laborer.\u00a0 Patrick wasn\u2019t afraid of work (he did a fair amount of labor in construction during his summer break from the Old Vic school), but once he had been bitten by the acting bug, he was all in.\u00a0 His impoverished upbringing could have been an impediment to his plans, but he had mentors and supporters who helped him land a two year scholarship that covered all of his expenses at Old Vic.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In this part of our story, we are going to jump ahead to what became his new obsession with his artform:\u00a0 becoming a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.\u00a0 There were many steps for Patrick to take before he got there and it would take all of this<\/span> FTV<\/span><\/i> for us to just get him to the RSC.\u00a0 We do, however, need to mention one particular event that happened before he got to the RSC.\u00a0 It would help him leaps and bounds down the road.\u00a0 Stewart was working as a stage manager \/ actor for a regional theater company when he was offered a chance to do an 18 month world jaunt with the Old Vic Touring Company (not associated with the Old Vic School).\u00a0 The headliner for this outing was none other than Vivian Leigh – yes, the actress who starred in<\/span> Gone With the Wind.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The gentleman who hired Stewart for the tour liked to torment young, inexperienced actors.\u00a0 The director first demanded a \u2018yes or no\u2019 answer from Patrick before supplying him with any pertinent details (he said \u2018yes\u2019).\u00a0 The acting parts Steward was given on this tour were minimal, but in the end, well worth his while.\u00a0 Not only did Vivian take him under her wing, but she made him never regret signing on.\u00a0 As an added bonus, Patrick got to see this haughty director put in his place by both Leigh and the Queen.\u00a0 In this case, it was the Queen of Tonga who was a special guest at a performance in Australia.\u00a0 The Queen insisted on meeting the whole cast, and not just the ones the director liked.\u00a0 It turned out he didn\u2019t even know all their names, but the cast graciously bailed him out by introducing themselves to Her Highness.\u00a0 Had Mr. Director any inkling of the stellar career the object of his torment would have, maybe he would have been a bit nicer to Patrick – but probably not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Stewart abandoned his plan to keep \u2018doing well as an upcoming actor waiting to get noticed by the RSC\u2019 in 1965.\u00a0 After seeing David Warner in a production of <\/span>Hamlet, <\/span><\/i>he resolved to seek an audition instead of waiting for one to be offered.\u00a0 Patrick went so far as to tell his agent he would be leaving his second season working with the Bristol Theater Company after their Christmas shows.\u00a0 This would\u00a0 have left him unemployed if the RSC didn\u2019t work out, but he went ahead full bore just the same.\u00a0 It took a day or two for the director at the RSC to inform him they indeed wanted to hire him for the upcoming season.\u00a0 The company would be producing <\/span>Henry IV <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Henry V<\/span><\/i> and his wage would be thirty-five pounds per week to play \u2018as cast\u2019.\u00a0 The last phrase reminded him of the low end parts he had been given in the Old Vic World Tour where his contract also said \u2018as cast\u2019.\u00a0 In the end, Patrick thought, \u201cYes, the roles I will be given will not be the biggest ones, but they will be full blooded characters of ambition and presence.\u201d\u00a0 It was a gamble he would even be granted an audition but again, it turned out well for him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As with anyone new to a company as world famous as the RSC, it would take time for Stewart to work his way up through the ranks.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t even guaranteed a second season with the troupe.\u00a0 Patrick ended up spending 14 glorious years with them.\u00a0 Patrick met a dancer \/ choreographer named Sheila whom he wed.\u00a0 They had a son and a daughter and purchased two homes;\u00a0 one in Stratford, the other in London.\u00a0 The happy couple lived as full a life as they could considering their careers often kept them going in opposite directions.\u00a0 In the early 1980s, Stewart decided to dial back his role in the RSC to pursue work in other areas.\u00a0 He did not quit entirely and he continued to perform with the RSC.\u00a0 He just wanted to work at a reduced level so he could see what other opportunities might arise.\u00a0 A few movie and television shows had broadened Patrick\u2019s horizon and he felt he was doing some of his best work in the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the movie offers he received was for a terrible Japanese film that Stewart admits was one of those roles he took simply because it was a \u2018paycheck\u2019.\u00a0 While waiting for his film call on location in Germany, his agent called and asked if he remembered a script he had sent sometime before.\u00a0 It was for the David Lynch\u2019s adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel <\/span>Dune.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Stewart was not a science fiction fan but before he knew it, he was sitting in the first class section of a jet bound for Mexico City.\u00a0 His agent assured him they could work out a way to schedule around his Germany film dates adding, \u201cThey want you for the part of Gurney Halleck.\u00a0 David Lynch really wants you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All was not quite as it seemed when Patrick arrived on location.\u00a0 The actor who was originally cast for the part also came from the RSC, but he ended up not being available.\u00a0 Lynch had remembered seeing Steward at RSC when he was scouting the other actor, but the Patrick he saw had been in full stage make up.\u00a0 His disappointment when he met the real Patrick Stewart sans makeup was obvious.\u00a0 It was a little confusing for Stewart at least until Lynch\u2019s assistant filled him in, but he made the most of his time in Mexico.\u00a0 When <\/span>Dune <\/span><\/i>was released in 1984, he was now part of a successful SciFi film.\u00a0 During his time off camera, Patrick had fun exploring the ancient ruins he had read about as a boy.\u00a0 As he always said, his education was lacking but he was well read.\u00a0 Ancient history just happened to be one of his passions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0UCLA professor David Rodes had become a good friend and collaborator in a series of Shakespeare lectures and master classes they would conduct.\u00a0 After a presentation at UCLA\u2019s Royce Hall in 1986, he received a call from his agent in the guest room at Rodes\u2019 home.\u00a0 His agent asked Patrick, \u201cWhat were you doing at UCLA last night and why would Gene Roddenberry want to meet with you this morning?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Stewart\u2019s children were big fans of <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> but Stewart had no idea who or what Gene Roddenberry was.\u00a0 The meeting they had was not a smashing success:\u00a0 \u201cIt was all very awkward.\u00a0 A few pleasantries were exchanged among us, but I was not even invited to sit down.\u00a0 Indeed, it was a matter of mere minutes before Roddenberry called the conversation to a halt, turning to me and saying, \u2018Thank you for coming\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 It was uncomfortable and upon departing, Patrick was just as glad to be removed from the situation .\u00a0 It was shades of his first meeting with David Lynch all over again.\u00a0 He later learned Roddenberry had told his lieutenants (who had pitched Stewart for the part), \u201cPatrick Stewart\u2019s name should never, ever be mentioned in my presence again.\u201d\u00a0 Stewart returned to London with only a vague recollection of the Roddenberry incident.\u00a0 The only thing that made a lasting impression on him was the hideous carpet in Roddenberry\u2019s office.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the call from Star Trek producer Steve Dontanville to come to L.A. had flicked a switch in his brain:\u00a0 \u201cWhat about Hollywood?\u00a0 Why not pursue TV and film work in America?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A rather surprising second call from Dontanville offering him an audition for a specific part in the upcoming <\/span>Star Trek – The Next Generation<\/span><\/i> series put him back on a plane to Los Angeles.\u00a0 He thinks he may have read for the part of the character named <\/span>Q, <\/span><\/i>but he is certain that Roddenberry was still not happy with him. \u00a0 While awaiting his audition at his UCLA professor friend\u2019s home, he received a call from Corey Allen.\u00a0 Allen was slated to direct the new series pilot episode.\u00a0 He told Stewart he was not operating within the chain of command, but he wanted\u00a0 to do a read through of the script ahead of the audition.\u00a0 Always one to be prepared, Patrick thought it was a wonderful idea.\u00a0 Allen told him to tell no one what they were up to.\u00a0 When Corey offered to read the second part opposite Stewart, it finally dawned on him;\u00a0 Allen, too, was an actor and Patrick had seen him in James Dean\u2019s <\/span>Rebel Without a Cause.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>They met at the studio under the radar, but one other person also knew Stewart was on the lot –\u00a0 a hairdresser named Joy (she helped him with his hairpiece for the audition).\u00a0 She had shamed the security men at the gate for not letting him into the parking lot, telling them, \u201cDon\u2019t you know who he is?\u201d.\u00a0 She had recognized Stewart from the headshots she was sent in preparation for his arrival at Paramount Studios.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After the reading, Joy was removing his hairpiece and she told him, \u201cThat was great.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get that thing off your head.\u201d\u00a0 They were interrupted by a knock on the door which Patrick assumed would be a \u2018thanks, don\u2019t call us, we\u2019ll call you\u2019 send off.\u00a0 Instead, the three suits came in and thanked him (again) for coming and wished him a good day.\u00a0 Joy filled Patrick in after they left:\u00a0 \u201cYou know why they did that?\u00a0 They wanted to see what you looked like without the hairpiece.\u00a0 And I think they liked what they saw.\u201d Rather than jump in his car and head home, Stewart decided to take some time to explore the Paramount lot.\u00a0 The studio had produced so many of the films he had devoured as a kid back in Yorkshire.\u00a0 He figured he might as well make the most of what might be his one and only visit to the famous studio lot.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While Stewart had breakfast and played tourist, a rather frantic search for him was taking place.\u00a0 In those pre-cellphone days, no one could find him.\u00a0 The studio had called his agent shortly after the audition and said they wanted to offer him the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.\u00a0 Agent Steve began by calling Professor Rodes\u2019 home (where Patrick was staying).\u00a0 Directed to the English Department at UCLA, they interrupted the professor\u2019s class to take a call from Steve.\u00a0 Rodes then called Professor Homer Swander (commonly known as \u2018Murph\u2019). Rodes knew\u00a0 Stewart was going to have lunch with Swander.\u00a0 The professor told Murph to have Patrick call Steve.\u00a0 When they finally made contact, the exasperated agent bellowed, \u201cWhere the (expletive deleted) have you been?\u00a0 Paramount is offering you the role of the captain.\u00a0 We will meet them tomorrow, at twelve noon.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be late – oh, and congratulations, by the way.\u201d\u00a0 Such was the beginning of a new career in American television and the beginning of the end of his first marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Though both Stewart and Ian McKellan were alum of the RSC, they did not become close friends until much later in life.\u00a0 They ended up sharing the big screen in Patrick\u2019s second wildly popular sci fi movie blitz, Marvel\u2019s <\/span>X-Men.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 In fact, when Stewart first told Ian he was going to sign a contract to do <\/span>TNG, <\/span><\/i>McKellan told him, \u201cNO, absolutely not!\u00a0 Do NOT sign the contract.\u00a0 You have too much important theater work to do.\u00a0 You can\u2019t throw it away to do TV!\u201d\u00a0 Looking back when they were both starring in the highly successful <\/span>X-Men <\/span><\/i>run (and after McKellen had already himself been part of <\/span>The Hobbit<\/span><\/i> franchise), Ian admitted that he had been wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Stewart has been happily married for more than thirty years but we should note it has been to three different women.\u00a0 Sheila, his first wife of 23 years, was left in England tending the home fires and her own career while Patrick worked in L.A.\u00a0 His first contract was for one year and insiders kept reminding him that there was no reason to believe the series would ever make it to the air, much less last a year.\u00a0 His career as a starship captain ended up spanning seven TV seasons and four theatrical releases.\u00a0 Being that far away from his family took its toll, however, and they became more distant in their marital relationship.\u00a0 Sheila confronted him when she visited L.A. for the last time and asked, \u201cAre you involved with another woman?\u201d\u00a0 Thus marriage number one came to an uncomfortable end.\u00a0 Both of the children did not take kindly to the divorce and Stewart blames no one but himself.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There would be a repeating pattern here.\u00a0 The relationship with the woman that ended Patrick\u2019s union with Sheila fizzled out.\u00a0 He grew close to another woman associated with the production of <\/span>Star Trek – TNG<\/span><\/i> and they wed, probably too soon.\u00a0 Once the series ended, they found little in common and his second wife repeated the \u2018is there another woman?\u2019 scenario, thus leading to divorce number two.\u00a0 Patrick\u2019s second marriage breaking relationship also fizzled and Stewart was left at loose ends for quite a while.\u00a0 He then met his third (and still current wife of more than a decade) in New York.\u00a0 She is a singer\/songwriter who at the time was working as a waitress.\u00a0 They got along famously, hit a rocky patch in their relationship, and then patched things up.\u00a0 They tied the knot twice due to Nevada not recognizing Ian McKellen\u2019s \u2018one and done\u2019 certificate to officiate – they married in secret in California and then had to repeat their vows for the guests they had originally invited to the wedding at a favorite resort in Nevada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oddly enough, both of Stewart\u2019s children were huge <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> fans.\u00a0 They never tired of engaging him in conversations and dialog from a genre of entertainment he knew nothing about.\u00a0 They certainly saw the irony of a total scifi cipher earning a spot in the Star Trek universe with no knowledge of the cultural phenomenon it had become.\u00a0 After the first divorce, daughter Sophie remained somewhat estranged from her father but son Daniel, a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, has collaborated with Patrick on a few of his theatrical projects.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In many ways, the cast of <\/span>TNG<\/span><\/i> became Stewart\u2019s new family.\u00a0 The insider tales about how they grew into a superior acting ensemble are fascinating, especially for Star Trek fans.\u00a0 The first season of <\/span>TNG<\/span><\/i>, Patrick was all business.\u00a0 He attacked his role the same way he had in his theatrical career.\u00a0 During the filming of a season one episode, he gave the entire cast a tongue lashing for goofing off too much.\u00a0 As Patrick now recalls (and of course, his <\/span>TNG <\/span><\/i>family never lets him forget):\u00a0 \u201cI delivered a speech in a tone that might be considered, I now reluctantly admit, rather pompous.\u00a0 I said, \u2018There are people on this set who don\u2019t get early wraps and late calls and the occasional day off like us lot.\u00a0 We owe it to them to help make the days go as quickly as possible,\u00a0 Yet look at us:\u00a0 having our fun, indulging in unprofessional behavior.\u00a0 Disgraceful.\u00a0 Do Better!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was dead silence until cast member Denise Crosby spoke up.\u00a0 She said, \u201cOh, come on Patrick!\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to have some fun sometimes.\u201d\u00a0 Stewart pounded on the arm of his chair and replied, \u201cWe are not here, Denise to have <\/span>fun.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>When the dam burst, the cast burst into an uncontrolled fit of laughter as Patrick stalked off to his trailer to pout.\u00a0 Lesson learned.\u00a0 He now admits that by the second season of <\/span>TNG, \u201c<\/span><\/i>I had become arguably and ironically, the most unruly person on the set, insisting with conspiratorial glee that every one of us should be responsible for at least one big laugh every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If one would like to see how Patrick Stewart has adapted to today\u2019s world of entertainment via digital media, there are scores of posts showing a different side of the once super serious Shakespearian actor at work.\u00a0 It may be hard to fathom, but one of his undiscovered skills as an actor turned out to be . . . comedy.\u00a0 There is a lot more to Patrick Stewart, it seems, than the catch phrases he became noted for in the Star Trek universe like \u2018engage\u2019 and \u2018make it so\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The opening of Patrick Stewarts career as a starship captain!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1, we spent a good deal of time detailing how a young Patrick Stewart managed to make the transition from being a barely educated Northern lad from Yorkshire to a full time student at the Bristol Old Vic School of acting.\u00a0 In his 2023 Memoir Making It So (Gallery Books, Camm Lane, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3179"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3182,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179\/revisions\/3182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}