Sir Patrick Stewart is celebrating his 78th birthday today.  It is impossible to be a fan of science fiction movies and TV shows and not know who Patrick Stewart is.

Sir Patrick Stewart was born July 13, 1940.

0000 Captain Jean-Luc Picard is one of Sir Patrick Stewart’s most popular roles. {image via Paramount}

Sir Patrick Stewart has played such iconic roles as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies, Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King, Gurney Halleck in Dune, Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, and Leondegrance in Excalibur.  He often plays a leader or authority figure, like Captain Picard or King Richard the Lion-Hearted in Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Emperor Uriel Septim in the video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  His characters are often intelligent men like Professor Xavier or Professor Ian Hood in Eleventh Hour or William Herschel in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.  

Sir Patrick Stewart played Charles Xavier, headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Sir Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in the 2000 movie “X-Men,” a role he recreated in other movies and video games. {image via 20th Century Fox}

With his rich, deep voice, Sir Patrick is popular as a voice actor and a narrator.  He was the voice of Poop in The Emoji Movie.  He’s a regular on American Dad as the voice of Avery BullockHe was the captain in Spark: A Space Tail. He’s been in Robot Chicken and Family Guy several times.

Ironically for a boy born in a working-class Yorkshire family, he has played countless kings and noblemen:  Leondegrance, King Richard I, Macbeth, John of Gaunt, Henry II, the Duke of Suffolk, Pharaoh Seti, King Goobot, Sir Simon de Canterville, and Lord Michael Simpson.

In acknowledgement of his many Shakespearean roles on stage and in film, Disney cast Sir Patrick as the voice of the statue of William Shakespeare in Gnomeo and Juliet.  He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, and was with them for almost thirty years.

Sir Patrick Stewart was born July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, UK.  He left school at fifteen to go to work.  In 1957 he went back to school, this time the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. IMDB reports “he made his professional debut in 1959 in the repertory theatre in Lincoln; he worked at the Manchester Library Theatre and a tour around the world with the Old Vic Company followed in the early 1960s.” He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996, carried the Olympic torch in London in 2012, and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for his services to drama.  His awards are legion, from the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1979 and 2009, the Saturn Award in 2018, and a Grammy in 1996.  He has been nominated for the Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony, and Saturn awards.

When not acting, Sir Patrick is involved in charity efforts.  He is a feminist and a spokesman for battered spouses, veterans with PTSD, refugees, and LGBT rights.

Happy Birthday, Sir Patrick Stewart!

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Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress ”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.