R.I.P. Sir Patrick Stewart

Yesterday while doing housework I got a notification on my phone that yet another beloved actor had passed away, Sir Patrick Stewart. Anytime this happens lately I get scared that someone else who I adore is gone. That always seems to be the case. I wish that someone who is in their 80's, who is a terrible person, who is ruining our country would be who the news was reporting on. But nope. It feels like it is one icon after another. It was Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. The actor who voiced Optimus Prime has passed. And now Sir Patrick Stewart.

This stinks. I am a bit of a later fan to Stewart's work. I never watched any version of "Star Trek". I don't know much about his other early work. Much like most of my generation, my first encounter with Stewart is the "X-Men" movies where he plays Charles Xavier. And I didn't even watch those until the late 2000's. His work in those movies is second to none. He is just as much Charles Xavier to me as Hugh Jackman is to Wolverine. Stewart embodied Charles Xavier. We named our dog after his portrayal. He was such a perfect casting for that role. The fact that he was already bald was great. Anytime I hear someone say Charles Xavier, if I'm not talking directly to my dog, I think of Sir Patrick Stewart. And he has done this role in many different "X-Men" movies to great success. The best version of this for me was his performance as Professor X in "Logan". To play this iconic character, this mutant that can read minds, going through dementia was a tour de force. Portraying this incredibly brilliant person suffering a debilitating disease that attacks your brain, Stewart was completely on point. I go back every so often and watch "Logan" simply to find new things I like about Stewart's performance. Putting him and an aging and dying Logan together, so they can both go off this mortal coil, was dynamite, and Stewart did such a fantastic job pulling this all off.

I also remember watching him in David Lynch's "Dune". I watched that movie within the last five years for the first time because I love Villenuve's "Dune" movies. So I figured I better go back and see what Lynch did. I don't care too much for his version of "Dune", but Stewart did some solid work. He was one of the few actors that I trusted in this movie. He wasn't too young like Kyle McLachlan, or a musician like Sting. Stewart was an actor asked to play a pivotal role in a movie based on one of the best science fiction books ever written. Of course he jumped at the opportunity. And in that mess of a movie, Stewart's performance is one of the better ones. RD mentions this on the podcast, but seeing him go to war with the Harkonnens with a pug in his hand is rad. That is one of the few cool scenes in Lynch's "Dune".

I also want to shout out his performance in the highly underrated thriller "Green Room". To this point in his career I had only known Stewart to play heroes, or people who you would walk away from the movie cheering for. He does the total opposite in "Green Room". He plays a Nazi who happens to own a punk rock bar where people steal and try to kill bands that come and play at their venue. Stewart is menacing and mean. He plays a vile human being in this role. There's no redeeming qualities with this person. And when he gets his in this movie it is so satisfying and glorious. I think it felt like such a relief because Stewart was playing this villain so well. You don't actively root for someone in a movie to get theirs unless they are playing someone truly vile and doing a good job at it. That is exactly what Stewart achieved in "Green Room".

I also want to point out a story that my wife told me years ago that she read about Stewart that makes him even more endearing. I guess he was in a hotel a long time ago and was flipping through the channels and came across whatever version of "Star Trek" he was on. When he got on that channel someone knocked on his hotel door and he went to answer. When he answered it is was room service and Stewart invited the person in. I guess he forgot that he had "Star Trek" on the tv and he told the interviewer at the time that this room service person must have thought he was so egotistical because it appeared as if he were watching himself on tv. That is hilarious to me.

In the end I think it is fitting that his last movie with be "Doomsday", where he will be playing Professor X. It only makes sense that he goes out on the role that I first noticed him for, and is probably one of his most career defining roles. I will be waiting for him to show up in that movie now more than before since he just passed away.

This one hurts almost as much as Dolly Parton for me. I like Sir Patrick Stewart. I have enjoyed his acting, and by pretty much all accounts he was a good person while he was here on this planet with all of us. Rest in Peace Sir Patrick Stewart, and just know that I, along with million so others, were big fans and we will sorely miss you. 

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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