Martin Limon celebrates the career of Yorkshire-born actor Sir Patrick Stewart famous for his role in ‘Star Trek - the Next Generation

Although many Yorkshire actors have achieved national fame, relatively few have conquered Hollywood or secured a knighthood. Patrick Stewart has done both and gained cult status at the same time: not bad for a working class lad from Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

He was born in 1940 during the Second World War and didn’t have the happiest of upbringings. His mother was a textile worker and father a Regimental Sergeant Major with a distinguished war record. Many years later however Patrick was to reveal a darker side to his father’s character and of the years of abuse that his mother endured. ‘As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother,’ he said. These unhappy memories led Patrick to make a video on domestic violence for Amnesty International and as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield he gave his name to a scholarship for post-graduate study into the same subject.

Patrick’s first experience of acting came at Mirfield Secondary Modern School (he failed to show up to take his 11+ exam), but his abilities were already evident to those who taught him for he was soon invited to take part in an eight-day drama course arranged by the county adviser. This led to more and more involvement in amateur dramatics. Leaving school at 15 Patrick then tried to combine acting with a job as a journalist and obituary writer for the Dewsbury Reporter newspaper. According to his brother he would sometimes ‘invent’ stories when pressed for time and the editor gave him an ultimatum that he should either devote himself to being a ‘proper’ journalist or become a full time actor. He chose the latter and in 1957, at the age of 17, embarked on a two year course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School: no mean feat for a working class lad from a family with no money. He later recalled: ‘I won what was called a County Major Scholarship which was usually only given to people with good grades at ‘A’ level.’

One of the skills the Bristol Old Vic taught him was to ‘lose’ his West Yorkshire accent when performing. ‘For a time I lived a double life speaking with a standard English accent professionally and dropping back to dialect with my family and friends,’ he said. Much of Patrick’s early career was spent with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He described the experience as like a ‘drug’, giving him: ‘the best possible material to work on, under the best possible conditions and with a group of people who are equally as passionate about the work of Shakespeare.’

Although he appeared briefly in ‘Coronation Street’ in 1967 (as a fireman) it was not until the 1970s that his television career took off with roles in the BBC serial ‘North and South’ (1975) and the 1976 classic series ‘I Claudius’ where he played the part of the ruthless and ambitious soldier Sejanus. It was, however, his love of Shakespeare that was to give him his most famous television role: that of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. In 1987 Patrick was attending a Shakespeare seminar at the University of Central California in Los Angeles when he was ‘spotted’ by Star Trek producer Robert Justman who recommended him to the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry to play the captain of the star ship Enterprise, despite there being some opposition at Paramount Studios to a 50 year old ‘bald man’ being given the role.

The decision was a triumph and Patrick played Picard in 176 episodes of the show between 1987 and 1996 and went on to reprise the role in several movie spin-offs. The part made him a household name in the USA and in 1995 he received the Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series.’ ‘Those years in the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing all those kings, emperors, princes and tragic heroes, were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair of the Enterprise,’ he said. Although that phase of his film career is now over, his involvement with the role of Picard continues through his appearance at ‘Star Trek’ conventions worldwide.

Another lucrative role he has made his own is that of Professor Charles Xavier in the X Men movies based on the Marvel Comics creations. So far he has appeared in four of these films and has also ‘voiced’ X men video games. In a recent interview he indicated that even at the age of 69 he would be ready to reprise the role in any future X Men films.

While his work in the USA brought him wealth and fame it did not bring him long-lasting happiness. His second marriage - to television producer Wendy Neuss - ended in 2004 and he soon moved back to England saying that homesickness was keeping him awake at night and because, professionally, his first love was the British theatre. In fact, he had long dreamed of coming home and even while living and working in LA had a house in North Yorkshire ready and waiting.

His return to England saw him again performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company but this time, after years of playing supporting roles, as the male lead in productions like ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’ and as Prospero in ‘The Tempest’. He was also sought after by British TV and in January 2006 appeared as Professor Ian Hood in a four-part ITV thriller series called ‘Eleventh Hour’. The series was about a government agency investigating scientific ‘excesses’ like human cloning and bio-terrorism.

Looking back over a career spanning more than 50 years, Patrick remains remarkably modest about his celebrity status. ‘I’ve never thought of myself as being anything other than an actor looking to find interesting and hopefully important work.’ Part of that work has been encouraging a new generation of talent for since 2003 he has been Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield and has used his fame to promote the university and its achievements. His role is also more than just a ceremonial one for he also teaches master classes in acting to drama students. Above all he has great pride in the university’s progress and a deep love of the Yorkshire countryside in which he grew up.