Life Lessons From Sir Patrick Stewart

Don’t be such a snob

Barbie has never been in my life at all. All of a sudden, my New York Times is full of Barbie, Barbie, Barbie. So I said to my wife, I must go see it because of the impact it’s having; it has got to teach me something. Well, I struggled for the first hour. I thought that I wasn’t going to make it. It was turning cuteness into something substantial and, really, cuteness isn’t. But when we got to the last scenes, my eyes were full of tears. And I found myself connecting my life experience to the one that the film was illustrating.

Driving royalty

Paul McCartney’s girlfriend at that time was in the theater company I was working in at Bristol in 1964. We were playing a game in a pub: If you had a million dollars, what’s the first thing you’d buy? I said, “An Aston Martin.” A couple of weeks later, after the Saturday night show, I was changing in my little, tiny box of a dressing room, and there was a knock on the door. I was in my underwear, and I said, “Come on in.” Because in the theater we don’t bother about those things, unlike the movies, where you have somebody guarding the door. And the door opened, and there was Paul. And he said, “Jane tells me that you like Aston Martins.” And he tossed me a set of keys and said, “Take me and Jane for a ride.” And all I could think of was, If I crash this car and kill Paul McCartney, that’s all I will be remembered for. So, it wasn’t really fun.

Have fun

I made a remark at a cast meeting at Star Trek that everybody was having too much fun. One of the actors said, “Patrick, we’ve got to have some fun.” And I said, “We’re not here to have fun.” For years and years all my dear colleagues from Next Generation have quoted that at me. I’m continually reminded what a fool I was. Because, yes, nothing but fun would be wrong. But to have fun as a part of the serious process was very important.

Finish the job

In the original final scene of Star Trek: Picard, there’s a dog by my side and you hear a woman’s voice saying, “Supper’s ready.” On the last day of shooting, we had so much unfinished work and I was flying to London the next day. So, I said, “Look, it’s only me in front of green screen. We can shoot it anytime. All I need is the dog.” But we never got to shoot the scene. I wish we’d shot it. Because it still lives in my head.

Domestic violence

For many years I was reluctant to speak about aspects of my childhood. I was ashamed that my father did the things that he did. As I got older, little by little I found that I could occasionally mention them. Then as my career took off, I was being invited to support organizations. I was uneasy about becoming involved. And indeed, it did attract enemies, even threats.

Make ’em laugh

One of my ambitions, should my work continue, is to do more comedy. Making people laugh gave me so much satisfaction. Because I’ve been in productions where I’ve seen people sitting wiping their eyes, and I feel sorry for them.

Loving soccer

My day yesterday began with watching my beloved home team win their first game of the season. My wife added it up and said, “You’ve supported Huddersfield Town Football Club for 74 years. This has got to be close to a record.” My uncle took me to my first Huddersfield Town soccer game, and I watched all of my first professional soccer game sitting on his shoulders. Now, of course, I sit in the director’s box! [Laughs.]

Exercise your brain

I’ve become absolutely committed to jigsaw puzzles. I’ve fallen in love with abstract painting puzzles. I finished one yesterday by Paul Klee which was very challenging. You have to get to know the painting so well. I use 1,000-piece jigsaws — I can’t do bigger than that because they take up too much space. We get big sheets of cardboard and then spray it with glue, and then I take it to a local framer. I used to have them made with glass, but I’ve stopped doing that because they’re jigsaw puzzles.

Obey the law

I’ve taken part in two races on professional Formula One racecourses and am a big fan. And I have two Porsches, one in England and one here in Los Angeles. But people have said, “You’re wasting that Porsche,” because I have become rigorous about maintaining regulations: maximum speed, school zones, stop signs. And it annoys people so much.