One day, out of irritation, I said, you know all of those years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, all those years of playing kings and princes and speaking black verse, and bestriding the landscape of England was nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

During this period Stewart also addressed the Durham Union Society on his life in film and theatre. The same production was broadcast in the U. Stewart found that one—a version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in which he portrayed all 40-plus characters—was ideal for him because of its limited performing schedule.

Sir Patrick Stewart OBE (born 13 July 1940) is an English film television and stage actor who has had a distinguiPatrick Stewartd career on stage and screen. He is most widely known for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its successor films and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series.