I will never claim to be a true Shakespeare buff, save for having read plays like “Romeo & Juliet” or “Julius Caesar” in school many years ago. But ever since I learned of the death of Sir Patrick Stewart, a line from “Hamlet” has been at the forefront of my mind. He was a man of incredible gravitas, a man of dignity and grace.
His baritone voice could stir you to action or tears in equal measure, often within the space of a single scene. Yet he also possessed a remarkably sharp sense of humor, never taking himself so seriously that he was unwilling to do or say truly outlandish things that made you laugh even harder given his well-honed Shakespearean bearing. I can’t think of Stewart as Avery Bullock on the animated series “American Dad” saying lines like “You are a complicated man, Smith.
I would love to do mushrooms with you” and not burst out laughing. To put it simply, Patrick Stewart was not just an actor. He was an Actor, capital A.
Every fiber of the man’s being was devoted to the pursuit of perfection in his craft. Even when he was of an age when he could have easily walked away and lived a comfortable life of leisure anywhere in the world, he continued to pursue work on the stage and screen. Because acting drove him, always striving to be better than he was before.
And that, I think, is what I found so inspiring about him. Stewart’s iconic performances did not just leave you in awe of his ability; they made you want to be better. To look inside yourself and tap into the better angels of our nature.
You wanted to live up to the example that he set, for that example represented the finest qualities of humanity. Stewart will probably never get the credit he deserves for how he changed this business. While everyone will point to stars like Robert Downey Jr. for the shift in perception around genre content like superhero movies and shows, Stewart was breaking new ground in that way more than two decades before the MCU came into existence.
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