Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard, dies at 86
Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard in Star Trek and Professor X in X-Men, has died at 86, days after Walter Koenig's death.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Patrick Stewart, the man who was Picard and Xavier, dies
British actor Patrick Stewart has died at 86, according to the announcement now opening the public conversation about his life. The news comes just days after the death of Walter Koenig, Pavel Chekov in the original series, leaving the Star Trek franchise with two losses in the same month. For an entire generation, Stewart was no supporting player: he was the face of Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men saga, two roles that turned a Shakespearean stage actor into a global popular icon.
The coincidence of dates has given the news an air of an era closing. Those who grew up with the series remember the captain on the bridge; those who came later, the bald mutant in the wheelchair. And in between, a long career that almost nobody reduces to those two characters.
Who Patrick Stewart was beyond Star Trek
Before the Enterprise, Stewart was a seasoned stage actor. He played Sejanus in I, Claudius in 1976, with hair and all, and two years later appeared in the adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in a brief, dialogue-free role. He was also Gurney Halleck in 1984's Dune, the warrior-troubadour who trains Paul Atreides, and Captain Ahab in a televised Moby Dick that did the novel no justice.
On stage he once performed a full monologue based on Dickens's A Christmas Carol. That background explains why his Picard sounded different: he wasn't an action hero, he was a diplomat with a Stratford accent.
The role he took reluctantly and that made him famous
There's an irony running through his entire filmography: Stewart accepted the role of Captain Picard because he was assured the series would flop and the job would be quick and well paid. The opposite peine. The Next Generation became, for much of the audience, the last great series of the Trek universe, and he found himself typecast —happily, it seems— as bald men with sarracena authority.
His last known screen work was Star Trek: Picard, where he looked tired. Even so, he saw the shoot through. Some claim he preferred to die with his boots on rather than retire.
What's still to come: Avengers Doomsday
The news has an immediate commercial consequence: Stewart appears in Avengers: Doomsday, whose release is scheduled for December 17 or 18, according to a forum post. Filming must have wrapped months ago, so his presence in the film is guaranteed. It will be the last time he's seen on the big screen, unless the industry turns to other tools.
The open question is to what extent his death will boost interest in that release. The box office will tell.
What the news doesn't settle is the usual question: how many of those writing "RIP" today are doing it for the actor or the character. The two blur together, and perhaps that's the best thing that could happen to a performer.
British actor Patrick Stewart has died at 86, according to the announcement now opening the public conversation about his life. The news comes just days after the death of Walter Koenig, Pavel Chekov in the original series, leaving the Star Trek franchise with two losses in the same month. For an entire generation, Stewart was no supporting player: he was the face of Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men saga, two roles that turned a Shakespearean stage actor into a global popular icon.
The coincidence of dates has given the news an air of an era closing. Those who grew up with the series remember the captain on the bridge; those who came later, the bald mutant in the wheelchair. And in between, a long career that almost nobody reduces to those two characters.
Who Patrick Stewart was beyond Star Trek
Before the Enterprise, Stewart was a seasoned stage actor. He played Sejanus in I, Claudius in 1976, with hair and all, and two years later appeared in the adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in a brief, dialogue-free role. He was also Gurney Halleck in 1984's Dune, the warrior-troubadour who trains Paul Atreides, and Captain Ahab in a televised Moby Dick that did the novel no justice.
On stage he once performed a full monologue based on Dickens's A Christmas Carol. That background explains why his Picard sounded different: he wasn't an action hero, he was a diplomat with a Stratford accent.
The role he took reluctantly and that made him famous
There's an irony running through his entire filmography: Stewart accepted the role of Captain Picard because he was assured the series would flop and the job would be quick and well paid. The opposite peine. The Next Generation became, for much of the audience, the last great series of the Trek universe, and he found himself typecast —happily, it seems— as bald men with sarracena authority.
His last known screen work was Star Trek: Picard, where he looked tired. Even so, he saw the shoot through. Some claim he preferred to die with his boots on rather than retire.
What's still to come: Avengers Doomsday
The news has an immediate commercial consequence: Stewart appears in Avengers: Doomsday, whose release is scheduled for December 17 or 18, according to a forum post. Filming must have wrapped months ago, so his presence in the film is guaranteed. It will be the last time he's seen on the big screen, unless the industry turns to other tools.
The open question is to what extent his death will boost interest in that release. The box office will tell.
What the news doesn't settle is the usual question: how many of those writing "RIP" today are doing it for the actor or the character. The two blur together, and perhaps that's the best thing that could happen to a performer.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (56 replies).
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