And while he admitted there was a time when he “was uncomfortable with this reality,” especially as it “seemed incompatible with my background and reputation as a serious stage actor,” he had learned to appreciate it over the years.
“I have grown to treasure Jean-Luc. He has come a long way from the relatively stiff character introduced back in ‘Encounter at Farpoint,” Stewart wrote. “I wish I could time-travel to 1987 and inform that scared, perpetually worried English actor what my Winter’s Tale director, Ronald Eyre, told me when he wanted me to play Leontes: ‘I know that he is inside you already, Patrick. All you have to do is let him out.’”
Following his initial success with Star Trek, Stewart found himself in another legendary role as the Marvel character Professor Charles Xavier, a character he first played in 2000’s X-Men. Still, he wasn’t 100 percent on board when the opportunity first arose.
“No more fantasy. No more sci-fi. No more telepaths. No more actors zipped into formfitting costumes. I’m done with all that,” he wrote in his memoir. “Thanks for thinking of me, but—no, absolutely not.”
But he was soon swept into the franchise, especially as he starred opposite Ian McKellen as Magneto, with the stage legends building a friendship that would blossom over the decades. Stewart would go on to play the role of Professor Xavier in a total of nine films.
In 2010, Stewart was made a Knight Bachelor for his services to drama, officially making Sir Patrick Stewart.
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