From Shakespeare to Superheroes: How Patrick Stewart Broke Hollywood's Rules About Age and Stardom

If you were a millennial born in the '90s and grew up watching our TV lineup, you were probably beside yourself when the news broke yesterday that Patrick Stewart passed away on October 28th at his Los Angeles home following a short battle with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia (People via Apple News). Stewart was a brilliant actor who crossed over from being a working-class Yorkshire Shakespearean actor to one of America's beloved actors, setting a standard and defying Hollywood stigma about age and stardom.Patrick Stewart gave audiences a captain who believed in diplomacy before conflict and a professor who believed that being different did not make someone less deserving of acceptance. Behind both characters was a Shakespearean actor whose career challenged Hollywood's expectations about age, fame, and what it meant to be a hero.

“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love,” - Sir Ian Mckellin (via variety)

Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire in 1940, he left school at the age of 15 and worked as a journalist before he started pursuing acting. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1957, leading him to success as he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 at the age of 26, where he met and encountered Ian McKellen. From supporting roles, he gradually became one of the leading classical performers in more than 40 Royal Shakespeare productions during his 27-year tenure with the organization.

"My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk — getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?” Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theater audiences, who marveled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men‘ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway. - Sir Ian Mckellen (via Variety)

In 1987, at 47 years old, Stewart was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. This role distinguished him from the typical action hero stereotype, portraying Picard as a captain who was mature, intelligent, diplomatic, and composed. His experience lent the character an authority that surpassed physical intimidation and limitations. He demonstrated that leaders can possess patience, wisdom, and moral conviction instead of automatically resorting to aggression. In 2000 at the age of 60, Stewart landed another iconic role, shaping the vision of leadership for children everywhere as he portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the first X-Men film by Marvel Studios at the age of 60. He became an influence on major Hollywood actors such as Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Romijn, and Famke Janssen, an honor in which they all referred to him as one of the greats.

Stewart's spirit continued to show us he was relentless going into his 70s and 80s. Following the success of X-Men and its movies, Stewart reached a new demographic and shaped his characters in another avenue: animation, comedy, and voice acting. He played Alistair on the beloved Cheers spinoff Frasier the same year Grammer landed the role as Beast on X-Men. He played Deputy Director Avery Bullock, Stan's boss, being one of the longest roles during the tenure of the show. His classical training mixed with the incredibly absurd lines made us see a different side of him that kept us laughing. He reprised his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Family Guy and even voiced Peter during a cutaway joke where he changed character voices.

Patrick Stewart's legacy goes beyond the fame of Picard and Xavier.

His career proved that an actor could seamlessly transition between Shakespeare and science fiction while maintaining credibility. He broke the mold regarding when an actor could become a leading man and demonstrated how maturity can be an artistic asset.

His achievements also sparked discussions about the importance of seasoned actors in franchises typically linked to younger audiences.

The most compelling conclusion is not that Stewart defied aging, but that he consistently evolved as an artist throughout his life.

If Patrick Stewart could become a global superstar at 47 and redefine his career again at 60, why do we continue treating age as an expiration date for success?

RIP Captain we will forever miss you!