WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're taking 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:05.139 a, well, a monumental stack of sources, interviews, 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:07.639 biographies, articles, and we are going to distill 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:10.080 it all down. We certainly are. And our subject 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.740 is an actor who somehow, almost impossibly, managed 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:16.280 to become the very definition of classical English 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:19.120 theater and at the same time the absolute epitome 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:22.500 of global sci -fi royalty. We are talking, of 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:25.019 course, about Sir Patrick Stewart. It really 00:00:25.019 --> 00:00:28.059 is an extraordinary career. A trajectory of, 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.890 um... Stark contradictions, you could say. When 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:33.429 you look through all the material we have here, 00:00:33.509 --> 00:00:35.609 which covers everything from his punishing years 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:38.530 in the Royal Shakespeare Company to this almost 00:00:38.530 --> 00:00:41.270 accidental leap to Hollywood. Right. And then 00:00:41.270 --> 00:00:43.250 his deeply personal activism, his knighthood 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:46.310 in 2010. What you see isn't the story of an actor 00:00:46.310 --> 00:00:49.009 who just drifted into fame. Not at all. It's 00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:51.289 the story of a highly disciplined classicist 00:00:51.289 --> 00:00:53.570 who took a series of calculated, really high 00:00:53.570 --> 00:00:56.049 stakes risks with his career, often completely 00:00:56.049 --> 00:00:58.859 against the advice of his closest friends. Absolutely. 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:01.979 And our mission today is to really unpack that. 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:04.900 We've got this sprawling biography in front of 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.879 us. I mean, it goes from his 1959 debut as a 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:10.000 character named Cut Purse in Cyrano de Bergerac, 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:13.599 all the way to winning a Grammy for narrating 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:15.700 a children's story. And fighting alongside the 00:01:15.700 --> 00:01:17.659 Avengers. Let's not forget that. And fighting 00:01:17.659 --> 00:01:19.920 alongside the Avengers. Exactly. So what we want 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.000 to do is get into the sources and understand 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.319 the tension that fueled his success. How did 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:29.359 this profoundly... reluctant this dedicated classical 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:32.959 English actor become a household name not once, 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.459 but twice in American science fiction. And I 00:01:35.459 --> 00:01:37.540 think just as importantly, how did his really 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:41.260 difficult and traumatic past in Yorkshire? shape 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:44.700 his powerful and often very nuanced role as a 00:01:44.700 --> 00:01:47.200 social activist. Yes, that's a huge piece of 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:49.040 the puzzle. And just look at the formal accolades 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:50.959 for a second. The sources are full of them. Two 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:52.760 Laurence Olivier Awards, which, you know, for 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:54.739 anyone not deep in the theater world, that's 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:56.900 like the British Tony Awards. It signals total 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.170 dominance on the London stage. A huge deal. A 00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:01.790 huge deal. And there's a Grammy Award for spoken 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:04.230 word. He's got nominations for a Tony, three 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:06.629 Golden Globes, four Emmys. I mean, the list goes 00:02:06.629 --> 00:02:09.110 on. This tells you he didn't just succeed in 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:12.430 one little corner of the industry. He basically 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:15.509 mastered every single discipline he tried. Stage, 00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:19.110 screen, high drama, voice work. Everything. He 00:02:19.110 --> 00:02:21.210 conquered it all. Okay, let's unpack this then. 00:02:21.409 --> 00:02:23.849 Before the Starship Enterprise, before the X 00:02:23.849 --> 00:02:26.530 -Men, before any of that global fame, Patrick 00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:29.560 Stewart's origins were... Well, they were rooted 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.460 in profound difficulty. We're talking about the 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:33.719 hardscrabble industrial landscape of Muirfield 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.699 in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was born 00:02:36.699 --> 00:02:40.639 July 13th, 1940. His mother, Gladys, was a weaver, 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.580 a textile worker, and his father, Alfred Stewart. 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:46.259 I think to really understand the actor, we have 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:48.180 to start with the severity of that environment. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:50.780 And Alfred Stewart is absolutely central to this 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:52.580 biography. I mean, especially because of the 00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:54.460 immense psychological weight he was carrying 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:57.199 from the war. Alfred was a regimental sergeant 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.240 major in the Parachute Regiment. A very serious 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.580 position. Oh, incredibly disciplined, physically 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:04.900 potent. He served in World War II, was part of 00:03:04.900 --> 00:03:06.639 harrowing events like the Dunkirk evacuation. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:08.879 And after the war, you know, he came home and 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:12.319 became a laborer, then a postman. But that inner 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.680 turmoil, it just never went away. And the sources 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:16.500 are really unequivocal here. Alfred suffered 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:18.520 terribly from what people back then just called 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.280 combat fatigue. Right. Today, we would recognize 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:25.000 it immediately as severe debilitating post -traumatic 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.370 stress disorder. PTSD. And you have to put it 00:03:28.370 --> 00:03:31.569 in context. This is the 1940s, the 50s. PTSD 00:03:31.569 --> 00:03:34.009 was barely acknowledged, let alone treated. There's 00:03:34.009 --> 00:03:36.370 no framework for it. None. And the sources explain 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:38.669 that this led directly to intense, unpredictable 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.349 domestic violence inside their very poor household. 00:03:42.139 --> 00:03:44.479 Patrick's childhood was defined by this volatility 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.219 that could just erupt at any moment. It was chaotic 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:50.319 and, frankly, deeply painful. And that historical 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.960 context is just vital for understanding Stewart's 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.039 later advocacy, isn't it? I mean, that violence 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.580 wasn't seen as a mental health crisis. It was 00:03:57.580 --> 00:03:59.780 often just viewed as a character flaw or just 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:01.699 the harsh reality of post -war working class 00:04:01.699 --> 00:04:05.819 life. Just how things were. Exactly. So the bravery 00:04:05.819 --> 00:04:09.090 of him speaking about it decades later. You just 00:04:09.090 --> 00:04:11.469 can't overstate it. Yeah. That trauma was so 00:04:11.469 --> 00:04:13.689 deep. It was so intertwined with his earliest 00:04:13.689 --> 00:04:16.410 memories that it actually came out years later 00:04:16.410 --> 00:04:19.250 in his greatest theatrical work. It suggests 00:04:19.250 --> 00:04:22.430 it never, ever fully left him. And that's what 00:04:22.430 --> 00:04:24.889 makes this one anecdote he shared in 2008 so 00:04:24.889 --> 00:04:27.430 striking. He recalled he was growing a mustache 00:04:27.430 --> 00:04:30.009 for his role as Macbeth. a role that requires 00:04:30.009 --> 00:04:32.569 such psychological depth right and he's looking 00:04:32.569 --> 00:04:34.589 in the mirror just before going on stage and 00:04:34.589 --> 00:04:37.170 he said he didn't see himself he saw his father's 00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:39.550 face staring right back at him it was his father's 00:04:39.550 --> 00:04:41.949 powerful presence the structure and the terror 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:44.149 his father embodied that he was channeling into 00:04:44.149 --> 00:04:47.370 the character wow it's a stunning almost method 00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:50.050 acting level of subconscious inspiration he describes 00:04:50.050 --> 00:04:52.509 his father as this incredibly potent individual 00:04:52.509 --> 00:04:54.949 the kind of man whose presence was so commanding 00:04:54.949 --> 00:04:57.910 that he claimed Bird stopped singing when Alfred 00:04:57.910 --> 00:04:59.829 walked onto the parade ground. That's some image. 00:05:00.009 --> 00:05:02.610 It is. And that kind of intensity, that need 00:05:02.610 --> 00:05:05.329 for absolute controlled presence, that's something 00:05:05.329 --> 00:05:07.790 Stewart carried with him. It became the bedrock 00:05:07.790 --> 00:05:10.709 of his stage persona. So if that trauma was so 00:05:10.709 --> 00:05:13.389 tied into his art, did the sources suggest it 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:16.290 ever, you know, got in the way? Did it ever hinder 00:05:16.290 --> 00:05:19.029 his ability to approach a character? Or was it 00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:21.649 always just fuel for the fire? The evidence really 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:24.170 suggests it was fuel, but only after he learned 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:26.930 how to harness it. That childhood of chaos where 00:05:26.930 --> 00:05:29.470 you have to be hyper aware, constantly performing 00:05:29.470 --> 00:05:32.529 a certain way just to survive. Yeah. That became 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.069 the raw material for his craft. The need for 00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:37.970 control, for discipline. That became everything. 00:05:38.129 --> 00:05:40.730 And that's the spirit he took to the stage. And 00:05:40.730 --> 00:05:42.990 thankfully, the pivot point away from that chaos 00:05:42.990 --> 00:05:46.329 at home was his education. We learn his career 00:05:46.329 --> 00:05:48.629 is directly, and I mean directly, attributed 00:05:48.629 --> 00:05:50.970 to his English teacher at Crowley's Junior and 00:05:50.970 --> 00:05:54.170 Infant School, a man named Cecil Dormand, who 00:05:54.170 --> 00:05:56.209 just put a copy of Shakespeare in Stuart's hand 00:05:56.209 --> 00:05:58.509 and told him to read it out loud. That one simple 00:05:58.509 --> 00:06:01.129 gesture, it changed everything. It was the immediate, 00:06:01.250 --> 00:06:03.870 profound influence on his life. So he leaves 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:05.970 school at 15, which, you know, was a pretty common 00:06:05.970 --> 00:06:07.689 thing for working class boys in Yorkshire at 00:06:07.689 --> 00:06:10.029 the time. And he starts balancing his amateur 00:06:10.029 --> 00:06:13.300 acting with trying to make a living. At first, 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.480 he tries to do this as a newspaper reporter and 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.420 obituary writer for the Mirfield Reporter. And 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:20.720 by all accounts, he was legendarily terrible 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.279 at the journalism part. His own brother said 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:25.720 Patrick would regularly skip work to go to rehearsals. 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.060 He was inventing stories. Inventing stories or 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:30.759 getting other reporters to cover for him. So, 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:33.500 you know, this led, pretty understandably, to 00:06:33.500 --> 00:06:36.680 an ultimatum from his boss, acting or journalism. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.800 Pick one. He chose acting and he was gone from 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.459 the newspaper after only a year. He knew where 00:06:42.459 --> 00:06:44.839 his passion was. But that choice meant he had 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:47.720 to earn a living somehow. And this leads to this 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:50.920 almost perfect, if completely unintentional, 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:54.220 training ground. A local furniture store. He 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.680 took a job there because the schedule was flexible 00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:59.519 enough for rehearsals, but he very quickly found 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.079 out that his natural theatrical talent made him 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:04.389 an outstanding salesman. You can just picture 00:07:04.389 --> 00:07:07.370 it, can't you? He would tailor his sales pitch 00:07:07.370 --> 00:07:09.810 for every single customer. He'd use different 00:07:09.810 --> 00:07:12.089 accents, different registers, different emotional 00:07:12.089 --> 00:07:15.009 appeals. He was basically turning every sale 00:07:15.009 --> 00:07:18.110 into a little one -act play. It's practice. It's 00:07:18.110 --> 00:07:20.970 constant practice, honing his improv skills while 00:07:20.970 --> 00:07:24.189 selling a sofa. It's a very practical, very working 00:07:24.189 --> 00:07:26.750 -class application of his art. It just proves 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:28.569 that the dedication was there from the absolute 00:07:28.569 --> 00:07:32.069 beginning. So from that foundation, he eventually 00:07:32.069 --> 00:07:34.870 gets formal training. He and his friend, the 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:37.870 wondrously theatrical Brian Blessed, they get 00:07:37.870 --> 00:07:40.889 grants to go to the prestigious Bristol Old Vic 00:07:40.889 --> 00:07:42.709 Theatre School. And there's a little historical 00:07:42.709 --> 00:07:44.769 detail here that just speaks volumes about the 00:07:44.769 --> 00:07:46.810 English class system he was breaking out of. 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.240 According to the sources, Stewart was the very 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:51.339 first person who wasn't a graduate of Oxford 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:53.660 or Cambridge to get a grant like that from the 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:56.420 West Writing Council. Wow. It just points to 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:59.199 the sheer undeniable force of his raw talent. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:01.879 It was just too big to ignore. And it overrode 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.439 all those traditional privileged pathways that 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:06.920 usually decided who got top tier training. And 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.319 from there, his commitment to classical theater 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.060 became absolute. His first professional stage 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:15.860 appearance was in 1959. By 1966, he's joined 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:17.839 the legendary. Royal Shakespeare Company, the 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:22.500 RSC. And a year later, 1967, he's already an 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:25.120 associate artist. And the sources really emphasize 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.879 the intellectual and physical rigor of that time. 00:08:28.019 --> 00:08:29.779 And it's important we spend a moment on this 00:08:29.779 --> 00:08:31.800 because it defines the kind of actor he became. 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:34.980 He stayed with the RSC until 1982. That's 16 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.860 years. 16 years. And during that time, he wasn't 00:08:37.860 --> 00:08:40.039 taking long breaks. He was in more than 60 productions. 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:44.080 And he was taking on three or four major, complex, 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:47.330 often exhausting roles. every single season. 00:08:47.429 --> 00:08:49.210 That's not a job. That's an artistic marathon. 00:08:49.509 --> 00:08:52.149 To manage three or four huge Shakespearean roles 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:53.990 at the same time, that requires a staggering 00:08:53.990 --> 00:08:56.129 level of mental and vocal discipline. You're 00:08:56.129 --> 00:08:58.509 shifting between, say, a tragic hero, a king, 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:00.470 and a comedic sidekick, sometimes on back -to 00:09:00.470 --> 00:09:02.830 -back nights. That consistency is why he was 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:05.210 immediately seen as this institutional powerhouse. 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:08.190 And the recognition within that world was swift. 00:09:08.649 --> 00:09:11.529 He got his first major award, the Laurence Olivier 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:14.610 Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, in 00:09:14.610 --> 00:09:17.950 1979 for playing Eno Barvis in Anthony and Cleopatra. 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:21.070 And that's a key detail. He starts as an award 00:09:21.070 --> 00:09:23.289 -winning supporting actor. It shows that his 00:09:23.289 --> 00:09:25.149 technical brilliance was always the first thing 00:09:25.149 --> 00:09:27.350 people noticed. He was a titan of the British 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:29.629 stage. And while he's immersing himself in these 00:09:29.629 --> 00:09:32.429 classical roles, he's also doing some very high 00:09:32.429 --> 00:09:35.009 -quality, dense, serious television and film. 00:09:35.570 --> 00:09:38.990 His first TV spot was tiny. a fire officer on 00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:41.470 Coronation Street in 1967. Blink and you'll miss 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:44.370 it. Exactly. But his major early screen roles 00:09:44.370 --> 00:09:47.389 were the definition of cerebral drama. He's Vladimir 00:09:47.389 --> 00:09:50.230 Lenin in Fall of Eagles. He's Sejanus and I, 00:09:50.409 --> 00:09:53.730 Claudius, and the stoic spymaster Carla in the 00:09:53.730 --> 00:09:56.820 huge series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. And he 00:09:56.820 --> 00:09:58.860 didn't completely avoid what would later become 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:01.000 his genre, but he always treated it with that 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:03.720 stage gravitas. He played King Leona Grants in 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:06.320 Excalibur in 81 and then Gurney Halleck, the 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:09.100 loyal warrior in David Lynch's very strange adaptation 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:12.440 of Dune in 1984. Yeah, these were not light populist 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.500 parts. And all this just reinforces the immense 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:18.039 skepticism he had for popular screen culture. 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:20.610 The sources highlight that Stewart genuinely, 00:10:20.690 --> 00:10:23.889 truly preferred classical theater. He felt so 00:10:23.889 --> 00:10:25.830 strongly about it that he would question other 00:10:25.830 --> 00:10:28.230 actors. Specifically, he questioned the Doctor 00:10:28.230 --> 00:10:31.149 Who actress, Lala Ward, about why they would 00:10:31.149 --> 00:10:33.190 choose to work in science fiction or on TV at 00:10:33.190 --> 00:10:36.570 all. He saw it as a step down, a lesser art form. 00:10:36.889 --> 00:10:39.230 That dismissal of screen work is just so critical 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:41.509 for context, because what happens next completely 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:44.389 flips his career on its head. Here's a man utterly 00:10:44.389 --> 00:10:46.590 committed to one path, and then the universe 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:48.649 basically intervenes with a six -year contract 00:10:48.649 --> 00:10:50.929 for a show he was absolutely certain would get 00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:53.470 canceled in six months. So, right, how does this 00:10:53.470 --> 00:10:55.750 dedicated, intensely skeptical Shakespearean, 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.190 the associate artist of the RSC, end up in a 00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:00.490 Starfleet uniform, commanded the Starship Enterprise? 00:11:01.190 --> 00:11:03.370 It all started with this academic detour that 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:06.289 sounds almost too perfect to be true. In the 00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:08.649 early 70s, a professor recruited him to teach 00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:10.649 American university students about Shakespeare. 00:11:10.850 --> 00:11:13.889 And that seemingly innocent academic job was 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:17.250 his entry point into the U .S. ecosystem. While 00:11:17.250 --> 00:11:20.190 he was at UCLA, Robert H. Justman, who was a 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:22.009 co -producer working on the Star Trek revival, 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:25.470 he happened to see Stewart doing a literary reading. 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:28.149 Just by chance. Just by chance. And presumably, 00:11:28.269 --> 00:11:30.649 Stewart was projecting his voice with that classical 00:11:30.649 --> 00:11:33.250 authority and that single sighting led directly 00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:35.669 to the offer to play Captain Jean -Luc Picard 00:11:35.669 --> 00:11:38.690 in Star Trek The Next Generation. And the sources 00:11:38.690 --> 00:11:41.269 make it crystal clear that his acceptance of 00:11:41.269 --> 00:11:43.590 that role was born entirely out of skepticism, 00:11:43.629 --> 00:11:46.570 not ambition. He knew nothing about Star Trek's 00:11:46.570 --> 00:11:49.470 cultural power. He, his agent, everyone he talked 00:11:49.470 --> 00:11:52.370 to, they all believed unequivocally that this 00:11:52.370 --> 00:11:55.580 new syndicated show would fail. and fail quickly. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.960 He only signed the standard six year contract 00:11:57.960 --> 00:11:59.539 because he thought it was a short term, high 00:11:59.539 --> 00:12:02.000 paying gig. The plan was just to collect a paycheck, 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:04.440 go back to London a little wealthier, and then 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:06.620 gracefully get back to his stage career with 00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:08.940 some financial security. It was a calculated 00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:11.740 risk that, ironically, was based entirely on 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:14.440 the assumption of failure. And he had incredibly 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.860 vocal critics among his friends. The sources 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:20.360 note that his close friend, Sir Ian McKellen, 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:22.899 was particularly adamant. McKellen told him, 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:26.500 you can't throw that away to do TV. No. He just 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:29.139 strongly urged him not to abandon his distinguished 00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:33.299 theatrical career for something as lowbrow and 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:36.360 transient as American sci -fi. So he had to. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:38.879 actively ignore the advice of one of his most 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.759 trusted friends. That really highlights how big 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.259 of a risk it seemed at the time. So here's where 00:12:44.259 --> 00:12:46.519 the story gets really, really interesting. The 00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:49.639 culture clash on the set of Star Trek. The next 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:51.700 generation in those early days must have been 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:54.200 just jarring. When he was picked for the role, 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:56.460 the L .A. Times famously called him an unknown 00:12:56.460 --> 00:12:58.700 British Shakespearean actor. Which tells you 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:00.440 everything about his profile in the U .S. at 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.159 the time. Exactly. He was so sure the show would 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:05.480 fail that he literally lived out of his suitcase 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:07.720 in a furnished apartment for the entire first 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:10.059 season. He was just ready to pack up and fly 00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:12.399 back to London at a moment's notice. And his 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:14.659 professionalism, you know, honed over decades 00:13:14.659 --> 00:13:17.419 at the RSC, where every second of rehearsal time 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:20.059 is precious. It immediately clashed with the 00:13:20.059 --> 00:13:22.879 more relaxed, high -speed world of American television. 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:26.159 Stewart himself admitted he struggled with his 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.179 less disciplined castmates. That famous quote. 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.159 The famous quote. He recalled with genuine embarrassment 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:35.139 scolding the ensemble early on for what he saw 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:37.980 as a lack of focus, saying, we're not here to 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:40.059 have fun. And you can just imagine the looks 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:42.879 he got. Oh, I'm sure. But he said it later with 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:45.000 such embarrassment. He came from a world where 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.700 acting was like a military operation, a disciplined 00:13:47.700 --> 00:13:51.279 execution of very complex material. But slowly, 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.620 he began to understand the differences in U .S. 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:56.200 television, and he relaxed. He adjusted. But 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:58.460 that intensity, that discipline, it was absolutely 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:01.740 key to the show's massive success. Jonathan Frakes, 00:14:01.860 --> 00:14:03.980 who played Commander Riker, he noted that Stewart 00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:07.120 set such a high bar for preparation, which meant 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:08.960 everyone else came to work completely prepared 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:10.740 with their lines. It raises the game for the 00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:13.679 whole cast. It does. And Marina Sirtis, who played 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.259 Deanna Troi, she went even further. She credited 00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:19.279 Stewart with at least 50%, if not more, of the 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:21.639 show's success, purely because of his dedication 00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:24.100 and the high standards he set just by his own 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:26.740 preparation. But he had his own unique struggles, 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:29.740 too. For a man who could effortlessly rattle 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:32.419 off King Lear's soliloquies, he admitted that 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:35.139 his spirits used to sink whenever he had to memorize 00:14:35.139 --> 00:14:38.090 and recite the famous... technobabble. Oh, the 00:14:38.090 --> 00:14:40.850 technobabble. The complicated scientific jargon. 00:14:40.990 --> 00:14:43.090 You know, he's struggling with lines like, the 00:14:43.090 --> 00:14:45.429 deflector dish is overloaded, Captain. We need 00:14:45.429 --> 00:14:47.870 to recalibrate the temporal flux. It's a brilliant 00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:50.269 comparison, isn't it? From the poetry of Shakespeare 00:14:50.269 --> 00:14:52.649 to the prose of fictional quantum mechanics. 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:55.870 Yet, despite all that, the sources say his favorite 00:14:55.870 --> 00:14:58.190 technical line eventually became the deeply serious 00:14:58.190 --> 00:15:01.509 and philosophical space -time continuum. It's 00:15:01.509 --> 00:15:03.429 almost like he managed to find the hidden drama 00:15:03.429 --> 00:15:06.820 in the science itself. He did. And that ability 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:09.320 to find the drama in the technical details is 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:12.080 what made Picard so compelling. The moment he 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.340 truly realized the scope of his new fame, though, 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.820 was when the first season ended. He went to his 00:15:16.820 --> 00:15:19.200 first Star Trek convention. Expecting a few hundred 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:22.440 people. Maybe. Instead, he found 2 ,500 people 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.440 who, in his own words, already knew more about 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:27.259 me than I could ever possibly have believed. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.559 He had gone from this highly respected but obscure 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:34.419 stage actor to a global icon virtually overnight. 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:37.360 And with that fame came extraordinary, life -changing 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:40.139 wealth. The sources draw a really sharp contrast. 00:15:40.769 --> 00:15:44.409 By 1992, during a filming break from TNG, he 00:15:44.409 --> 00:15:46.450 calculated that he earned more in that short 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:48.730 break than he would have from 10 weeks of a serious 00:15:48.730 --> 00:15:51.070 London stage production. That financial cushion 00:15:51.070 --> 00:15:53.190 is so critical, and we'll come back to it, because 00:15:53.190 --> 00:15:55.789 it gave him the absolute freedom to pursue any 00:15:55.789 --> 00:15:57.929 theatrical passion project he wanted without 00:15:57.929 --> 00:16:00.269 worrying about, you know, paying the bills. And 00:16:00.269 --> 00:16:02.809 Stewart fully embraced the legacy that Picard 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:05.649 created. When he was asked to compare Picard 00:16:05.649 --> 00:16:08.669 to his Shakespearean career, his quote is legendary. 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:11.960 He said, All of those years in Royal Shakespeare 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.360 Company were nothing but preparation for sitting 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.580 in the captain's chair of the Enterprise. He 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:19.840 saw the through line, the discipline, the need 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.139 for presence. It all just perfectly overlapped. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:24.740 And he remains very proud of the show's social 00:16:24.740 --> 00:16:27.679 messages, its educational impact on young viewers. 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:30.779 He saw the Enterprise as a platform for progressive 00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:33.169 thought. The recognition was sometimes serious, 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:36.230 sometimes a little absurd. TV Guide readers in 00:16:36.230 --> 00:16:39.389 1992 chose him as television's most bodacious 00:16:39.389 --> 00:16:41.909 man. Bodacious. What a great piece of trivia. 00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:44.470 Alongside Cindy Crawford, no less. And of course, 00:16:44.470 --> 00:16:46.570 the perfect rebuttal to any criticism of the 00:16:46.570 --> 00:16:48.710 show came from Gene Roddenberry himself about 00:16:48.710 --> 00:16:52.250 his baldness. A reporter asked why humanity hadn't 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:54.850 cured baldness in the 24th century. And Roddenberry 00:16:54.850 --> 00:16:57.230 just said, In the 24th century, they wouldn't 00:16:57.230 --> 00:16:59.610 care. A perfect summation of the show's whole 00:16:59.610 --> 00:17:03.580 vision. But this incredible, iconic success created 00:17:03.580 --> 00:17:06.240 an immediate and very serious hurdle for him. 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:09.680 Severe typecasting. The show ran for seven years. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.740 Then he did four movies. And then the new streaming 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:15.339 series much later. He admitted the lines between 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:17.259 him and the character just blurred. Yeah, he 00:17:17.259 --> 00:17:19.180 said, it came to a point where I had no idea 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:21.589 where Picard began and I ended. we completely 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:24.130 overlapped his voice became my voice and the 00:17:24.130 --> 00:17:26.230 professional world outside the enterprise saw 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:28.910 it the same way yeah the typecasting was so bad 00:17:28.910 --> 00:17:31.509 that when he tried to get other roles hollywood 00:17:31.509 --> 00:17:33.990 directors didn't want him nobody wanted this 00:17:33.990 --> 00:17:37.650 grand deep -voiced, bald English guy because 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.170 everyone just knew he was Picard. He even said 00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:41.670 that if he had known the show would last seven 00:17:41.670 --> 00:17:43.470 years, he would have declined the contract. He 00:17:43.470 --> 00:17:46.450 said, no, no, no, no. And looking back now, it 00:17:46.450 --> 00:17:48.190 still frightens me a little bit to think that 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:50.849 so much of my life was totally devoted to Star 00:17:50.849 --> 00:17:53.069 Trek and almost nothing else. So the solution 00:17:53.069 --> 00:17:55.990 to escaping one grand, deep -voiced, bald English 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:59.170 guy role was to play another grand, deep -voiced, 00:17:59.170 --> 00:18:01.880 bald English guy role. The great irony. The great 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.819 irony is that he solved the Picard typecasting 00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:07.599 problem by accepting the part of Professor Charles 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.420 Xavier in the X -Men films, starting in 2000. 00:18:10.740 --> 00:18:12.660 And he was reluctant at first, wasn't he? He 00:18:12.660 --> 00:18:14.220 didn't want to jump into another huge franchise 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:17.140 right after the intensity of Star Trek, but director 00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:20.859 Bryan Singer was persuasive. And, more importantly, 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:23.579 the chance to work alongside his dear friend 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:26.980 Ian McKellen, who was cast as Magneto. And McKellen, 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:29.319 who had originally told him Star Trek was a terrible 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:32.079 idea, conceded this time that his friend had 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:34.660 made a prudent choice. It was a very strategic 00:18:34.660 --> 00:18:37.640 move. The X -Men franchise let him be part of 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.039 a major blockbuster series, but without that 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:43.539 grinding year -round schedule of a TV show, it 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:45.779 was a high -profile presence that gave him flexibility. 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.299 And it worked. He went on to play the role in 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:50.779 seven films, proving the longevity of his second 00:18:50.779 --> 00:18:53.960 major sci -fi icon status. He even reprised the 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:55.920 role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Doctor 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.759 Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So despite 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:01.160 the global fame, the financial security that 00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:02.900 Star Trek brought him, which remember was the 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:05.220 original goal, the sources make it very clear 00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:07.819 that he immediately missed the stage. Oh, deeply. 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:11.480 He recognized that the long TV schedule had left 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:15.619 a gaping hole, as he put it, in his CV as a Shakespearean 00:19:15.619 --> 00:19:18.599 actor. It meant he missed the window to play 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:22.200 legendary age -specific roles like Hamlet, Romeo, 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:25.779 Richard III. So how do you feed an 18 -year stage 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:28.200 habit when you're contracted to spend seven years 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:30.640 on a spaceship? He found this really creative 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.759 solution that didn't require that. crushing six 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:36.259 -month commitment of a full theatrical run. One 00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:38.799 -man shows. Exactly. He started writing and performing 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:40.920 one -man shows, which were ideal because they 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:43.740 had these limited manageable schedules. And the 00:19:43.740 --> 00:19:46.480 most famous of these was his masterful version 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:49.240 of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. He took 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:51.519 on this Herculean task of playing all 40 -plus 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.880 characters himself. Scrooge, Tiny Tim, all the 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:57.440 ghosts. It's a direct link back to that one -man 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.799 furniture sales pitch, isn't it? Demonstrating 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:02.680 absolute control over an audience. It is. And 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:04.799 the sources confirm this show was a critical 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.619 and popular phenomenon. It proved he hadn't lost 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:10.099 his stage chops during his time in space. He 00:20:10.099 --> 00:20:13.079 performed it on Broadway in 1991, and it earned 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:15.559 him the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance. 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.720 And then a Laurence Olivier Award in London a 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.829 few years later. It was pure strategic brilliance. 00:20:21.970 --> 00:20:25.210 These limited successful runs let him feed his 00:20:25.210 --> 00:20:28.509 passion, get critical acclaim, and satisfy that 00:20:28.509 --> 00:20:31.829 deep need for live performance, all without jeopardizing 00:20:31.829 --> 00:20:34.529 his TV commitments. And it's notable he co -produced 00:20:34.529 --> 00:20:37.509 the show through his own company, Cam Lane Productions, 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:40.869 a direct, deliberate nod to his working class 00:20:40.869 --> 00:20:43.670 birthplace in Mirafield. He was literally using 00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:46.849 his American income to fund his high art passion 00:20:46.849 --> 00:20:49.450 projects. And demonstrating his character. and 00:20:49.450 --> 00:20:52.049 sense of civic duty, when he brought A Christmas 00:20:52.049 --> 00:20:56.009 Carol back to Broadway in 2001 after 9 -11, all 00:20:56.009 --> 00:20:58.930 the proceeds went to charity. One performance's 00:20:58.930 --> 00:21:01.630 revenue went directly to the Actors Fund of America's 00:21:01.630 --> 00:21:03.670 9 -11 campaign. It wasn't just artistic fulfillment. 00:21:03.769 --> 00:21:05.970 It was philanthropy. Eventually, though, the 00:21:05.970 --> 00:21:07.789 stage called him back for those big classical 00:21:07.789 --> 00:21:10.930 roles he'd missed. In 1997, he took on the title 00:21:10.930 --> 00:21:13.289 role in Othello. And this is a particularly innovative 00:21:13.289 --> 00:21:15.609 and pretty controversial production. It was called 00:21:15.609 --> 00:21:18.049 a photo negative production. Right. A white Othello 00:21:18.049 --> 00:21:20.690 with an otherwise all black cast. Exactly. It 00:21:20.690 --> 00:21:23.430 was designed specifically to explore themes of 00:21:23.430 --> 00:21:26.170 race and power and what it means to be the ultimate 00:21:26.170 --> 00:21:28.490 outsider. He had wanted to play a fellow since 00:21:28.490 --> 00:21:30.809 he was 14 years old. And this production, it 00:21:30.809 --> 00:21:32.829 wasn't just about fulfilling an ambition. It 00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:35.029 was designed as a commentary on the difficulty 00:21:35.029 --> 00:21:38.390 of a white man entering a black society, reversing 00:21:38.390 --> 00:21:41.529 the play's typical racial dynamics. Which required 00:21:41.529 --> 00:21:43.589 an immense amount of intellectual preparation 00:21:43.589 --> 00:21:46.390 and courage to step into that role under those 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:49.589 conditions. But he delivered. He did. He went 00:21:49.589 --> 00:21:52.329 on to critical triumph, returning to Shakespeare 00:21:52.329 --> 00:21:54.349 and proving he was still at the peak of his powers. 00:21:54.609 --> 00:21:57.190 He played Antony again in Antony and Cleopatra 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:00.710 in 2007 and later that year, Macbeth. And even 00:22:00.710 --> 00:22:02.690 though some critics initially suggested he might 00:22:02.690 --> 00:22:05.170 be too old for Macbeth. Often cast much younger. 00:22:05.250 --> 00:22:07.589 Much younger. But he and the show got excellent 00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:10.089 reviews. One critic hailed him as one of our 00:22:10.089 --> 00:22:12.849 finest Shakespearean actors, confirming that 00:22:12.849 --> 00:22:15.609 all that global fame hadn't dulled his classical 00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:19.529 edge one bit. And in 2008, he continued that 00:22:19.529 --> 00:22:22.710 streak. He played King Claudius in Hamlet alongside 00:22:22.710 --> 00:22:25.809 David Tennant in the title role. That performance 00:22:25.809 --> 00:22:28.589 earned him his second Olivier Award, this time 00:22:28.589 --> 00:22:31.130 for Best Supporting Actor. And what a class act 00:22:31.130 --> 00:22:33.609 he was in his acceptance speech. He dedicated 00:22:33.609 --> 00:22:36.289 the award in part to David Tennant because Tennant 00:22:36.289 --> 00:22:38.430 had been disqualified from a personal nomination 00:22:38.430 --> 00:22:41.230 due to a back injury that made him miss a few 00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.930 weeks of performances. That decision to share 00:22:43.930 --> 00:22:46.009 the spotlight really speaks to his recognition 00:22:46.009 --> 00:22:48.690 that theater is a collective endeavor, something 00:22:48.690 --> 00:22:52.049 honed during all those years at the RSC. And 00:22:52.049 --> 00:22:53.789 speaking of collective endeavors, the sources 00:22:53.789 --> 00:22:56.170 reveal that his powerful theatrical partnership 00:22:56.170 --> 00:22:59.569 with Ian McKellen was ironically forged, not 00:22:59.569 --> 00:23:01.750 on a stage. But while they were waiting around 00:23:01.750 --> 00:23:04.670 on set filming the X -Men films. Exactly. These 00:23:04.670 --> 00:23:07.470 two titans of the stage, who had previously been 00:23:07.470 --> 00:23:09.569 too busy with their separate classical careers, 00:23:09.809 --> 00:23:12.089 they finally found time to bond in their trailers 00:23:12.089 --> 00:23:14.609 while wearing superhero costumes. It's a fantastic 00:23:14.609 --> 00:23:17.509 image. And that partnership, born in the world 00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:19.829 of comic book movies, led to the fulfillment 00:23:19.829 --> 00:23:22.920 of a 50 -year... year ambition for Stewart. He 00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:25.359 appeared alongside McKellen in Samuel Beckett's 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.339 Waiting for Godot in 2009. He'd first seen Peter 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:31.039 O'Toole perform it when he was just 17, and now 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.180 he was doing it with his best friend. Their synergy 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:35.900 was just undeniable. The partnership was so strong 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:38.140 that they later brought two alternating productions, 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.700 Godot and Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, to Broadway 00:23:41.700 --> 00:23:45.359 in 2014. Which meant they had to constantly shift 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.680 psychological gears between two wildly different, 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:51.819 very complex plays. And this is where his public 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:54.819 image, that serious, stern captain, it shifted 00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:58.029 entirely. To promote the Broadway run, Stewart's 00:23:58.029 --> 00:24:00.970 wife, Sunny Ozel, suggested this brilliant, if 00:24:00.970 --> 00:24:03.450 initially controversial, idea. The Twitter campaign. 00:24:03.650 --> 00:24:06.170 The Twitter campaign. He and McKellen would tour 00:24:06.170 --> 00:24:08.130 New York City on their days off, taking these 00:24:08.130 --> 00:24:10.470 playful photos of themselves at iconic tourist 00:24:10.470 --> 00:24:12.990 spots, all while wearing their good old characters' 00:24:13.150 --> 00:24:16.470 iconic bowler hats. And the marketing team was 00:24:16.470 --> 00:24:18.329 completely against it. They thought it cheapened 00:24:18.329 --> 00:24:21.430 the serious image of these classical actors and 00:24:21.430 --> 00:24:23.130 these serious plays. But they did it anyway, 00:24:23.230 --> 00:24:25.579 and it was a massive, virtually free... success. 00:24:25.779 --> 00:24:28.319 It went viral instantly and drove huge ticket 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.900 sales. It was pure genius, personality driven 00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:34.480 marketing. And it completely changed Stewart's 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.940 public image from the imposing Shakespearean 00:24:36.940 --> 00:24:40.200 captain to this actor with a strong, approachable 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:42.319 and really playful sense of humor. A persona 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.960 that has continued and it's allowed him to capitalize 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.359 on that more relaxed approach he developed since 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.579 those early tense days on the Star Trek set. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.839 And this shift let him fully leverage his third 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:56.869 major career pillar. His voice. Leveraging that 00:24:56.869 --> 00:24:59.789 unmistakable, strong, authoritative voice was 00:24:59.789 --> 00:25:01.930 a thread that ran through his entire life. And 00:25:01.930 --> 00:25:05.039 he has a Grammy to prove it. He won Best Spoken 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.740 Word Album for Children in 1996 for narrating 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:09.940 Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. His voice work 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:12.079 is just prolific. It's so diverse. He's narrated 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:14.220 Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, C .S. Lewis's The 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:16.299 Last Battle, multiple nature documentaries where 00:25:16.299 --> 00:25:18.099 his voice just lends this immediate gravitas 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.799 to the natural world. We should analyze why his 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:23.240 voice is so effective, especially in comedy. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:26.480 It's that deep baritone, the controlled English 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.240 cadence, and the way he uses that immense authority 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:32.099 to deliver completely absurd lines. Right. you 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:34.759 transition seamlessly into animation, often using 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:37.829 that natural gravitas for hilarious effect, like 00:25:37.829 --> 00:25:40.250 voicing the permanently furious CIA executive 00:25:40.250 --> 00:25:44.210 Avery Bullock on American Dad since 2005. Bullock's 00:25:44.210 --> 00:25:46.589 humor is entirely based on the fact that he sounds 00:25:46.589 --> 00:25:49.329 exactly like Captain Picard, but he's addicted 00:25:49.329 --> 00:25:52.210 to cocaine and constantly planning these ridiculous 00:25:52.210 --> 00:25:55.329 espionage missions. It's the contrast. He guest 00:25:55.329 --> 00:25:57.529 starred in The Simpsons as number one. He voiced 00:25:57.529 --> 00:25:59.609 Napoleon the Pig, the ultimate authoritarian 00:25:59.609 --> 00:26:02.130 animal in a made -for -TV version of Animal Farm. 00:26:02.410 --> 00:26:04.589 His voice is so authoritative that he won a Spike 00:26:04.589 --> 00:26:07.490 TV Video Game Award in 2006 for his work as the 00:26:07.490 --> 00:26:10.470 Emperor in The Elder Scrolls V, Oblivion. It's 00:26:10.470 --> 00:26:13.109 a remarkable parallel career that he built, all 00:26:13.109 --> 00:26:14.930 stemming from that initial classical training 00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:17.670 that placed vocal technique at the absolute pinnacle 00:26:17.670 --> 00:26:19.910 of performance. And here's one final piece of 00:26:19.910 --> 00:26:22.230 voice trivia for you. He actually recorded narration 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:25.289 for the prologue and epilogue of Tim Burton's 00:26:25.289 --> 00:26:27.369 The Nightmare Before Christmas. I did not know 00:26:27.369 --> 00:26:30.190 that. Ultimately, another voice was used in the 00:26:30.190 --> 00:26:33.089 final film, but his version is so good and so 00:26:33.089 --> 00:26:35.289 authoritative that it's still on the first edition 00:26:35.289 --> 00:26:37.549 of the soundtrack. So what does this all mean 00:26:37.549 --> 00:26:40.849 when we connect the disciplined actor, the accidental 00:26:40.849 --> 00:26:45.049 sci -fi star, and the classical stage icon? If 00:26:45.049 --> 00:26:47.109 we look at the immense platform Stuart built, 00:26:47.210 --> 00:26:50.009 the most compelling takeaway is how he channeled 00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:53.509 that fame into advocacy directly related to his 00:26:53.509 --> 00:26:56.190 profound childhood trauma. That connection is 00:26:56.190 --> 00:26:58.890 just undeniable. It forms the moral center of 00:26:58.890 --> 00:27:01.190 his public life. The weight of that childhood 00:27:01.190 --> 00:27:03.650 experience led him to become a patron of Refuge, 00:27:03.750 --> 00:27:06.730 a UK charity for abused women and children. And 00:27:06.730 --> 00:27:09.730 in 2006, he made a short video for Amnesty International 00:27:09.730 --> 00:27:12.130 where he spoke openly about his father's attacks 00:27:12.130 --> 00:27:14.109 on his mother. And he didn't just talk about 00:27:14.109 --> 00:27:16.309 the physical aspect. He described the shocking 00:27:16.309 --> 00:27:19.250 pain of physical harm. But he emphasized the 00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:22.089 psychological lasting impact of just witnessing 00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:25.170 violence, the terror, the unpredictability, the 00:27:25.170 --> 00:27:27.990 helplessness. That distinction is so crucial. 00:27:28.190 --> 00:27:30.430 And that testimony is such a powerful act of 00:27:30.430 --> 00:27:32.970 bravery, especially for a celebrity who could 00:27:32.970 --> 00:27:35.930 easily choose to protect their privacy. He has 00:27:35.930 --> 00:27:38.920 publicly stated. With this direct, powerful conviction, 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:42.160 violence is a choice, and it's a choice a man 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:45.119 makes, which fundamentally shifts the blame away 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:47.819 from the victim. His advocacy went beyond just 00:27:47.819 --> 00:27:49.980 speaking out. He embedded it into the institutions 00:27:49.980 --> 00:27:52.880 he led. He established a scholarship at the University 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:54.640 of Huddersfield, where he served as chancellor 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:57.839 for over a decade, specifically to fund postgraduate 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.940 study into domestic violence. So he's using his 00:28:00.940 --> 00:28:03.539 elevated academic position to directly combat 00:28:03.539 --> 00:28:06.509 the demons of his youth. He's ensuring his own 00:28:06.509 --> 00:28:08.529 trauma can generate something constructive for 00:28:08.529 --> 00:28:11.210 the future. Turning to his broader social and 00:28:11.210 --> 00:28:14.509 political identity, Stuart is unreservedly left 00:28:14.509 --> 00:28:17.109 -leaning. He identifies as a socialist, he's 00:28:17.109 --> 00:28:19.289 a member of the Labour Party, and he cites his 00:28:19.289 --> 00:28:21.990 father as a strong trade unionist whose values 00:28:21.990 --> 00:28:24.230 were deeply ingrained in him during that tough 00:28:24.230 --> 00:28:26.589 Yorkshire upbringing. He's been consistently 00:28:26.589 --> 00:28:28.789 critical of U .S. foreign policy, especially 00:28:28.789 --> 00:28:32.309 the Iraq War. He maintained a strong pro -European 00:28:32.309 --> 00:28:34.940 stance. actively campaigning to remain in the 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:37.960 EU during the 2016 referendum and attended the 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:39.920 launch of the People's Vote campaign group in 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.339 2018. He also identifies as an atheist and a 00:28:43.339 --> 00:28:45.839 feminist, and he's a patron of Humanists UK. 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:48.859 And furthermore, he's a major public advocate 00:28:48.859 --> 00:28:51.460 for assisted suicide, serving as a patron for 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:53.779 dignity and dying since 2011. There's a very 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:56.220 consistent progressive intellectual thread there. 00:28:56.619 --> 00:28:58.420 What's fascinating, though, what really speaks 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:01.000 to his genuine critical thinking streak is that 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.900 despite his generally progressive politics, he 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:06.359 demonstrated the surprising, very nuanced stance 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:08.839 on civil liberties that baffled some of his supporters. 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:10.660 You're talking about the Christian bakers in 00:29:10.660 --> 00:29:14.640 Belfast. Exactly. The sources highlight his unexpected 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.400 defense of these bakers who were penalized for 00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:19.720 refusing to bake a cake that supported gay marriage. 00:29:20.140 --> 00:29:22.400 But to just state it like that misses the nuance 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.880 that Stewart was championing. He objected to 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:27.480 the punishment because, as he clarified, the 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.380 bakers refused based on the specific words written 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:32.980 on the cake, which they felt violated their personal 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:35.279 beliefs, not because they objected to the couple 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.000 themselves. Right. He drew a clear line. He said 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:39.779 he would support their right to say, no, this 00:29:39.779 --> 00:29:41.700 is personally offensive to my beliefs. I will 00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:44.690 not do it. And this position. While it seems 00:29:44.690 --> 00:29:46.930 to conflict with his strong support for LGBTQ 00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:49.450 plus rights, it just demonstrates his commitment 00:29:49.450 --> 00:29:52.190 to free expression and personal conscience, even 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:54.130 when that conscience opposes his own political 00:29:54.130 --> 00:29:56.650 views. It's a refreshing example of an intellectual 00:29:56.650 --> 00:29:59.269 separating personal politics from a broader defense 00:29:59.269 --> 00:30:02.569 of civil liberties. Reviewing his personal life, 00:30:02.670 --> 00:30:05.450 we see a story marked by dedication, but also 00:30:05.450 --> 00:30:08.349 by what he has openly called regret. He's been 00:30:08.349 --> 00:30:11.309 married three times, first to Sheila Falconer 00:30:11.309 --> 00:30:14.509 from 1966 to 1990, and they had two children, 00:30:14.650 --> 00:30:17.190 Daniel and Sophia. His second marriage was to 00:30:17.190 --> 00:30:20.150 Wendy Noose, who was a producer on TNG from 2000 00:30:20.150 --> 00:30:22.970 to 2003. And his third and current marriage is 00:30:22.970 --> 00:30:26.369 to singer and songwriter Sonny Ozel. He met her 00:30:26.369 --> 00:30:29.190 in 2008 while performing Macbeth, and they married 00:30:29.190 --> 00:30:33.259 in 2013. And the officiant was, naturally, Ian 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:35.579 McKellen. Of course it was. And here's the perfect 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:38.160 McKellen anecdote that just captures the slightly 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.220 anarchic nature of their friendship. Stewart 00:30:41.220 --> 00:30:43.960 revealed in 2020 that his official wedding ceremony 00:30:43.960 --> 00:30:46.799 in Nevada with Sunny, officiated by McKellen, 00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:50.460 was not actually legally binding. Wait, what? 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:53.140 McKellen's ministerial credentials weren't valid 00:30:53.140 --> 00:30:55.640 in that specific state. So even after decades 00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.759 of high stakes, meticulously planned career decisions, 00:30:59.099 --> 00:31:02.380 his biggest personal risk was trusting Ian McKellen's 00:31:02.380 --> 00:31:04.740 paperwork. It seems so. To solve the problem, 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:07.259 they had to hold a secret official legally binding 00:31:07.259 --> 00:31:09.900 ceremony a couple of weeks earlier at a Mexican 00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:12.299 restaurant in Los Angeles, which McKellen also 00:31:12.299 --> 00:31:14.779 officiated, this time with the correct credentials. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:17.740 That is incredible. The sources also mentioned 00:31:17.740 --> 00:31:19.720 his son, Daniel Stewart, who followed him into 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:21.599 acting and appeared with him in that classic 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:23.779 TNG episode, The Inner Light, where he played 00:31:23.779 --> 00:31:26.539 his son. Right. And despite all the success, 00:31:26.819 --> 00:31:29.559 Stewart has stated his two major regrets are 00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.039 failures in his marriages. Finally, we should 00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:34.319 touch on his more unconventional interests that 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:36.660 just round out his profile and connect him back 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:39.920 to his roots. He is a lifelong, avid supporter 00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:42.240 and president of the academy of his local football 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:45.119 club, Huddersfield Town. And this isn't a celebrity 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:47.599 trying to buy into a fashionable club. This is 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:51.019 deeply rooted. working class pride and loyalty 00:31:51.019 --> 00:31:53.539 to where he came from. He's also a serious motorhead, 00:31:53.619 --> 00:31:56.119 which always surprises people. He holds a Motorsport 00:31:56.119 --> 00:31:59.059 UK competition license and even set a remarkably 00:31:59.059 --> 00:32:02.099 quick lap time on the BBC show Top Gear back 00:32:02.099 --> 00:32:05.440 in 2003. And perhaps the greatest contrast to 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:08.480 his authoritarian image. He's an avid advocate 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:11.230 for pitbulls. He fosters several dogs and won 00:32:11.230 --> 00:32:13.769 the ASPCA Pit Bull Advocate and Protector Award 00:32:13.769 --> 00:32:16.569 in 2021. He frequently tweets pictures of himself 00:32:16.569 --> 00:32:18.470 with his foster dogs. It's part of that public 00:32:18.470 --> 00:32:20.509 display of personality he embraced during the 00:32:20.509 --> 00:32:23.109 Godot marketing campaign. It's a deliberate softening 00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:26.250 of that imposing stage image. And finally, his 00:32:26.250 --> 00:32:29.410 ultimate hidden desire, which reflects that yearning 00:32:29.410 --> 00:32:32.670 for another high art form. He has a fantasy of 00:32:32.670 --> 00:32:35.380 being a concert pianist. He said that if he could 00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:37.859 switch places with anyone, it would be the great 00:32:37.859 --> 00:32:41.119 pianist Emanuel Axe. The journey of Sir Patrick 00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:43.119 Stewart is just remarkable because it's defined 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:46.019 by the absolute merger of seemingly incompatible 00:32:46.019 --> 00:32:49.000 worlds. Our deep dive confirms that his trajectory 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.720 is about merging the disciplined, serious commitment 00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:54.480 of the Royal Shakespeare Company with the broad, 00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:57.480 accessible appeal of science fiction. He never 00:32:57.480 --> 00:33:00.099 intended to have global fame, but when it came, 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:03.000 he embraced the platform it gave him for social 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:05.440 good, for activism, and for defending the complicated 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.099 nuances of free expression. All of it rooted 00:33:08.099 --> 00:33:10.619 deeply in that tough but ultimately character 00:33:10.619 --> 00:33:13.440 -forging Yorkshire upbringing. Exactly. And the 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.920 central paradox of his career is this. Stewart 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.339 initially worried that seven years on Star Trek 00:33:18.339 --> 00:33:21.079 would irrevocably destroy his theatrical career. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.539 He thought it would leave that permanent gaping 00:33:23.539 --> 00:33:26.019 hole in his CV that would stop him from ever 00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.240 being seen as a serious actor again. Instead, 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:31.180 that detour, that calculated risk that everyone 00:33:31.180 --> 00:33:33.789 expected to fail, It provided the financial freedom 00:33:33.789 --> 00:33:36.470 and the global recognition he needed to fund, 00:33:36.630 --> 00:33:39.490 produce, and stage the classical works he truly 00:33:39.490 --> 00:33:42.869 loved. Like his acclaimed, self -produced A Carol, 00:33:43.109 --> 00:33:46.130 and the revival of Waiting for Godot with Ian 00:33:46.130 --> 00:33:48.990 McKellen. Star Trek didn't destroy his classical 00:33:48.990 --> 00:33:52.029 path. It provided the essential, unexpected foundation 00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:54.569 that ensured he became one of the most respected, 00:33:54.849 --> 00:33:57.210 versatile, and enduring actors of his generation. 00:33:57.789 --> 00:33:59.670 That's a fantastic thought to leave you with 00:33:59.670 --> 00:34:01.809 because it really reframes the whole idea of 00:34:01.809 --> 00:34:04.809 success. Consider what seemingly unplanned or 00:34:04.809 --> 00:34:07.069 unexpected paths in your own professional life 00:34:07.069 --> 00:34:09.489 might actually be providing the essential foundation 00:34:09.489 --> 00:34:12.210 for future long -term success, even if they currently 00:34:12.210 --> 00:34:14.849 feel like a distraction or a detour from the 00:34:14.849 --> 00:34:16.849 main objective. Thank you for joining us for 00:34:16.849 --> 00:34:17.449 the Deep Dive.