Patrick Stewart has died

13 hours ago (nytimes.com)

https://archive.ph/y4Egm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart

Watching him in Star Trek TNG made me reevaluate how management of people should be done, his character was assertive but compassionate. High morals coupled with grounded reason.

I also want to mention his hilarious role as bullock in American dad, the way he takes a role both so seriously and ridiculously makes him so fantastically hilarious.

I love him and will miss him.

  • Star Trek TNG as a whole was a masterclass on how to effectively manage a high performance team. It's a favorite watch in tech leadership circles for this reason. Every now and then I re-watch this clip of Data taking over the enterprise and the inevitable hiccups he runs into [1].

    Really high quality writing for its time.

    [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlnZKTXKidU

    • Keep in mind that Star Trek is a fictional utopia. When writing a script, one can make anything work out well.

      The original Star Trek was Roddenberry's vision of utopia. The benevolent dictator always makes the right decisions. He's surrounded by his loyal band of perfect lieutenants, who apparently have zero desire to advance, and have no flaws at all. Any and all of them are willing to sacrifice themselves for the others. None do anything bad (unless it's a plot device with an explanation that absolves them).

      Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed watching ST very much. Just keep in mind that that it's a fiction.

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    • TNG should be played 24/7 on every screen in the white house for the next two years.

      Picard viewed the power of leadership as, foremost, a responsibility. Every action was careful, deliberate, and well advised. Some later Trek shows (e.g. Voyager) turned captains into geniuses who knew more about everything than all of their underlings. Picard was not an expert in most things and needed his staff to advise him. Once he knew the options and consequences, he shouldered the responsibility of the outcomes, but as a leader of a crew, not a genius with compatible lackeys and minions around him. It was a realistic take on leadership that simply doesn't appear often in television or movies.

      Stewart, of course, was not Picard. It's too easy to conflate actors with their roles. However, actors do often help shape their characters, and Stewart's ability to give a thoughtful, diplomatic, and prudent character such incredible power and presence is likely what made Picard possible. The showrunners didn't need to strap a phaser to his thigh and drop him into every away mission to make him compelling because of what Stewart was able to accomplish as an actor sitting behind a desk.

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    • Who could have done that role but Stewart? Take the guy who played Riker or anyone else in that role and you would have lost the flavor. He will be missed.

      8 replies →

    • I have always used it as a model for my own leadership and it's worked out extraordinarily well almost always, and has been abused just once. I've had former employees who I've fired who would still work for me again, and I take great pride in treating peole with respect generates results like that. It works.

  • TNG is a fine example of "competency porn", where everyone knows what they're doing and usually makes the best available choices. In today's world, that's even more compelling than it used to be.

  • Picard was a model of ethics, integrity, and competence especially when the moments are dire and there are no good answers.

    Patrick Stewart modeled how a good man should behave and you could tell that he acted from a place of wisdom he understood through experience.

    Wonderful contribution to humanity and truly saddened by this loss.

    • Depicted the embodiment of bravery. Fighting when the odds are against you because it’s the right thing to do.

  • I think that I liked him most as Sejanus in I, Claudius. That was before any of his major sci-fi roles.

    I see him in this episode:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xA6QbwPGlgk

    I've read both Suetonius and Tacitus on the subject of Augustus and the Julio-Claudian dynasty:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio-Claudian_dynasty

    Those who lack this family knowledge would want to start with the first episode of I, Claudius.

  • His episode (the finale of season 1) of Extras is absolutely hilarious. I know he’s not primarily known for comedy, but he’s funny as hell.

  • I only watched TNG end to end a few years ago and it was one of the best series I've seen on so many levels.

    Ever since I watched it, I half jokingly suggested that it should be a mandatory watch before you're allowed to join the workforce.

  • This comment reminds me of General Hammond from Stargate - it's refreshing when characters are written for competence and especially funny when they just do what a normal person would do.

    Not to say they're comparable - both characters and actors are much loved.

  • Damn. You nailed it with your epilogue. Some actors you respect, some you like, but I love him too. I really do, never met him, but he's important to me and was a father figure for many years of my life and while I am not part of his family, he is part of mine.

  • "Competence porn," something I only heard relatively recently, is a great way to describe a significant component of my love for Star Trek. TNG was the top of the heap for that, and Patrick Stewart's Picard embodied it.

  • TNG is the Star Trek I grew up with. I rewatch the entire series every so often and it’s always good.

  • I didn't know that Patrick Stewart was the voice of Avery Bullock. Such an essential voice for the whole show. His voice will be missed.

  • Not to take anything away from his acting, but Patrick Stewart was not the author of his dialogue in TNG.

  • Leadership is service, not dominance. Today, some people throw around terms like "servant leadership" as if this is something new, as if something like the New Testament had never been compiled.

    • The problem is that to convince people to take the trouble to lead - or perhaps I should say “manage” - you need incentives. Money is one, but organizationally-backed dominance is irresistible for many people.

  • > Watching him in Star Trek TNG made me reevaluate how management of people should be done

    Has it made you disappointed of how people are managed in real life?

  • > the way he takes a role both so seriously and ridiculously makes him so fantastically hilarious.

    Don't forget he voiced the Poop emoji in that movie. If only we could tell his younger, Shakespeare-acting, self.

  • As much as I like Patrick Stewart, the actor, I must remember that Captain Picard was a role in a script someone else wrote. Picard's management style is what you admire, not the actor's personal management style.

    I have the same attitude with House MD lead actor Hugh Laurie: the actor played the role greatly, but the actor was not the fictional person of the role.

  • Babylon 5 is equal or even better for that. More leadership styles, some more flawed, but ultimately showing various ways to be emphatetic while assertive.

One thing that doesn't get enough attention - when COVID lockdowns started, he just made reels reading Shakespeare's sonnets. It was such a lovely break from everything else on social media. Really loved those.

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life." - Jean-Luc Picard

Good startup advice. Good life advice.

  • Yes, that's how it works in science fiction show for teenagers from the 60s.

    It's painfully hard to compare that to the real world.

    But at least, sci fi viewers can graduate to more serious shows with increasingly complex narratives (B5, bsg, I hear good things about the expense, etc...) then discover the really dystopian shit when they realize they live in it - or decide to become tech entrepreneur to get rich building the dystopia themselves.

    But you can't blame the storytellers from trying to tell a better story than the news...

    May the kid inside you, who once believed in the "good folks", rear up his metaphorical heads once in a while.

  • "The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth! It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based! If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don't deserve to wear that uniform!"

  • "Why has everything become a something or a whatever?"

    - Patrick Stewart breaking character

  • Of course, for Captain Picard life was one of winning relentlessly against impossible odds on a weekly basis.

Like everyone else here, Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard was a foundational part of my childhood. As it happens, I'm currently on bag 27/30 of the Lego Enterprise D right now. I've actually had the thought a couple of times over the past few years that this day had to be coming, and that it'd likely hit me hard when it did, especially after my dad's passing in 2024. (They're not particularly alike, aside from the hairline, but there's still a strong association in my mind, as my dad also loved TNG and was the one who got me into it.)

Anyway, it's a sad day, but I do appreciate that both his work and the influence he's had on people like me live on.

  • It's interesting how he was part of everybody's childhood. I watched TNG for the first time when I was over 40. And that series became something really special in our family and we all love Stewart, Frakes, Spiner and the gang.

    Some of the best television ever made if you ask me.

    • > and we all love Stewart, Frakes, Spiner and the gang.

      I think I’m at that point the characters and their actors feel like dear friends I have grown up with. Sir Patrick will be missed. I’m glad we had a chance to say goodbye to Picard on his own series.

      To me, I’ll repeat to myself he was just recruited into Section 31.

  • People too young to remember the 1990's might not know that Patrick Stewart's Picard was a sex symbol.

    I was surprised by how many of my friends considered the character 'hot'; on paper, one would expect young people to write him off as a balding goody-two-shoes.

    To have a character whose main traits included compassion and reason was a good influence on my generation of men.

    • > To have a character whose main traits included compassion and reason was a good influence on my generation of men.

      I agree and although the prestige TV era has produced some wonderful TV it’s also been overflowing with antiheroes. I hope todays younger generation gets to see another character like Picard.

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    • My wife and I met through OKCupid, and one of the things that most caught my eye on her profile was that she had a crush on Picard as a teenager. I knew then that she was a woman of impeccable taste.

  • I also lost my father in 2024, and have a similar link in my mind. Like Patrick, cancer did what cancer does.

    My condolences.

    • Similar, except my grandfather. He also went bald young, and was a space enthusiast. (Among various other nerdy hobbies.)

      I've got fond memories of visiting in the summers as a kid and watching TNG episodes he'd taped on VHS.

  • I watched TNG the first time around, every night, with my dad. It made me the man I am today in many ways.

  • TNG was comfort food for many of us nerdier Xennials. And this man is in the Mount Rushmore of Sci Fi actors.

    R.I.P. Captain.

Patrick Stewart's life had the odds against in him in many ways. Abusive father suffering from PTSD. A bald british man in Hollywood invites typecasting. Constant imposter syndrome from growing up poor while entering a profession where many came from more educated or affluent backgrounds.

Shakespeare effectively changed his life, and it's incredible to think that you could map everything he did and his success to his love of the bard.

If I had to take a lesson from his life, it's to have something you love, even if it isn't trendy (especially if it isn't) because most good things flow from that.

Godspeed, captain.

  • It is worth watching the BBC 'Who do you think you are' documentary about his genealogy. He talks movingly about his violent father's war trauma and how it affected the whole family.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mfw63

    (not sure if it is regionally restricted) also:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZsy4Rj7uAiT2NL8RIgH0...

    • He was born the same year as my dad, and like my dad, was born after his dad was posted overseas in the war.

      I remember my father saying how strange it was to meet HIS father for the first time when he was 5 - suddenly there was this stranger in the house.

      My grandfather fortunately wasn't violent, or a drinker, but I never saw the same closeness between him and dad that I did between my mother and her parents.

  • Also shows that government funding of the arts can be a force for good. It was his local council that gave him a grant, which enabled him to attend acting school. That single grant probably created a huge amount of downstream value.

Growing up without a good male role model, I am eternally grateful to Patrick Stewart's performance of Picard.

His performance (as well as how the character was written) still today illustrate what I view as an ideal male archetype. Fair, honest, in control of his emotions yet passionate. Thank you for the gift your performance has given me Mr Stewart. My life would likely have turned out a lot worse without a solid example of that a good man could be

  • Totally agree, but also deeply flawed human being that he played so well. My favorite writing of Picard and Stewart's performance was those times that showed the toll of always being that man. But despite those personal costs, to always try to take the compassionate view, and fiercely reject those that try to oppress others.

  • You may be aware that, IRL, Patrick Stewart grew up in a household with a violent father? He has spoken candidly about how that has affected his roles.

Patrick Stewart portrayed the sort of characters we desperately need more of. A modern day Atticus Finch, in a sense. To boldly speak truth, even when inconvenient, and argue, eloquently, for humanity, even after becoming machine.

I hope our current environment is one that can elevate someone of similar talents to an equivalent stature, but I worry our media is not up to the task.

When I think of our civilization, the Ressikan Flute often comes to mind.

Pour one out. https://picard.ytmnd.com/

  • > the Ressikan Flute often comes to mind.

    What an episode, and what a beautiful, terrible, gift!

This hits hard.

He was host at an academy awards event for technical achievement a few years back. Usually they send some random actor who jokes about how nerdy everything is. Having Patrick Stewart there was very popular he was 'one of us' even though he said himself he knew very little about tech. Had a chance to talk to him a bit afterwards and got to tell him how well appreciated he was by that audience. Gracious and funny, exactly how you might imagine he would be.

A sad loss.

  • I've never met anyone who worked with him who had a single bad word to say about him. We should all strive to be Patricks.

> Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia

Lewy body dementia was what Robin Williams had but they didn't discover until after his death and I guess he was misdiagnosed during life.

https://lewybodyresourcecenter.org/robin-williams-lewy-body-...

  • My dad had Lewy body dementia when he died and it was awful. I'm really sorry to hear that Stewart and his family had to deal with that.

    That page talks about what to do if somebody with LBD is thinking about suicide. After seeing what that disease does, interfering with those plans seems inhumane to me.

    • > That page talks about what to do if somebody with LBD is thinking about suicide. After seeing what that disease does, interfering with those plans seems inhumane to me.

      I watched a parent die of LBD.

      After that experience, I'd also be inclined to go with "let them" as the most-correct solution to that particular dilemma.

  • It must've spread so fast. I watched his interview in the Conan podcast only three years ago and he was smart and sharp and such a wonderful listen. It was a total surprise for me that he had Alzheimer's...

    Rest in peace captain :(

  • I have had 2 uncles (one passed, one in advanced stage) diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. It’s a cruel disease that affects both the mind and the motor functions, making it difficult to walk or stand up straight. It caused my uncle a lot of pain when he couldn’t hold his head up straight, his shoulders and neck scrunched up and hunched forward all the time.

    It’s also very trying for family and caregivers, as the person regresses until they’re as helpless as an infant trapped in an adult body.

  • I was told about 10 years ago that Lewy body dementia can only be diagnosed post-mortem (my grandfather was diagnosed post-mortem).

    • This has to be incorrect as I know of several alive people that have been diagnosed as such.

  • Having both is just plain terrible, although I suspect the latter dominated before the former really had an impact.

    And to think he was filming Picard just a few years ago.

Patrick Stewart was the first actor that I noticed who always seemed to bring his A game. Even for productions where clearly everyone else was phoning it in. It was a good lesson to observe when I was young. Just because you find yourself in a dumb situation doesn't mean you can't do a good job.

This was a person who from a relatively young age looked old, but more importantly behaved with a sort of dignity and thoughtfulness that projected way beyond his years. I'm not really sure how to assimilate the news because on the one hand obviously this was going to be happening sooner or later. He has always just felt old. But on the other, he's felt old for my whole life, so why shouldn't he just continue on that way without bound.

  • I discovered Star Trek:TNG pretty late in life. The first exposure to Patrick Stewart that I remember was coming home with a new video game, getting hyped up on the car ride while reading the manual, and finally getting a chance to play Oblivion. I was in awe hearing his stentorian intro with the camera sweeping over the countryside and the spires of the imperial city

  • > Just because you find yourself in a dumb situation doesn't mean you can't do a good job.

    If you love what you do, you do it well because you’re doing it for yourself.

I'm so saddened by this news, I still watch TNG regularly. Separately, I'm also kind of blown away that Captain Kirk outlived Captain Picard.

  • Same, although there is only 9 years between them despite the 20+ years between their respective series.

    Shatner is doing remarkably well for 95 years of age, I saw him performing with a band at a rock show just this summer!

  • I suspect the key thing about Shatner's longevity is his obvious enjoyment of life. For example, he's currently recording a bunch of heavy metal albums. Of course he is not a good singer, but he couldn't care less, and has a great time doing it. He's always up for doing fun things, like getting blasted into space on a rocket.

  • At this point, it is a marathon between Bill Shatner and Keith Richards.

    We may not live long enough to know who wins.

In the early 90s, I didn't get along with my Dad. I was a nerdy kid that didn't seem to fit in.

Star Trek TNG + Captain Picard acted as a male role model, a different moral philosophy, and a celebration of nerdy people as competent and important in the world

If you haven't read his memoir you definitely should, it's a well written piece where he reflects on his life, what he did wrong, what he did right, and the joy and pain that followed him through it all. He was a flawed man, but he was a good man. He will be deeply missed.

Edit: Oh man, I can't believe I'm crying at work over an actor.

As someone who grew up without a father, Patrick Stewart as Picard served as my father figure and shapes my personality and standards. it's hard to live up to those high bars of integrity, honor, and principles communication but I've found that just trying leads to positive outcomes. I owe a lot to this great man and will miss him dearly.

  • It's ironic how many people here mention him as a substitute father figure, seeing as it's the kind of father-son pair that cannot be. Never being a father is one of Picard's life regrets, and Stewart himself expressed in an interview he carries "significant grief" because his relationship with his children is "practically non-existent".

I went to a small theater production he was in with my gf. I hadnt realised all the seats would be taken and for some reason I was the only person standing with my girlfriend. We stood at teh back in the dark but I couldnt help but feel he was looking straight at me and my girlfriend for the duration of the play while he was onstage.

It might of been Im not sure, not the case? But perhaps against a white wall it was clear we were the only ones standing for the performance and in turn it felt he was performing for us. It just felt like that.

I ofcourse have no idea if he was just looking in our general direction but it weirdly felt like it and I thought it was kind.

Ive never had such a "he was doing it for us" self centered view of any other performance Ive ever been to, but I always remembered this, and like to believe it was true.

The play itself was about him being an old dying forgetful man. It was so convincing I somehow left thinking that surely he was but ofcourse it was just excellent acting.

  • Not to burst your bubble, but the usual eye-line is the back wall of the theatre - or higher, if you're playing a auditorium with a balcony. It's to make sure everyone can see your face. I can promise that he saw you, though, and would have noticed, and been sad, if you'd left. Keeping an audience engaged is the whole deal, and if standing-room patrons stick around you know you're getting it done.

Patrick Stewart was a legendary actor, and a pleasure to watch both within and without the Star Trek franchise (Hamlet, Macbeth, the Hollow Crown).

The NY times editorial board seems to have become even more performatively egalitarian. Stewart (like Ian McKellen) was (IMNSHO quite rightly) recognized with a knighthood for his services to drama. They call him "Mr Stewart" - technically there is no such person.

The correct way to refer to him is Sir Patrick Stewart, or Sir Patrick thereafter. Ditto McKellen.

And yes, the US doesn't issue its own knighthoods, peerages &c - but the US constitution is fairly clear on what is disallowed - but that doesn't affect a non-US Citizen

The foreign emoluments clause [0] applies to "holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them" and the section also prevents the US from creating any title of Nobility, but editorial courtesy usually grants foreigners their titles [1]

It's perfectly correct to ignore honorary knighthoods - like that conferred on Bill Gates. It's discourteous to ignore them for those rightly conferred, and inconsistent. [2]

[0] https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S9-C8-1/...

[1] https://archive.nytimes.com/afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/27/archives/the-unshackling-...

Oh man, Patrick Stewart is a base rock part of my personality. Star Trek The Next Generation was formative for me ages 7-12. Sad to see him go.

I'm surprised that we don't have the black banner. Sir Patrick Stewart played a formative part in the live of many of us in the industry.

  • I get that the black banner is often for paying tribute to people who contribute significantly to science and technologies. But I feel he touched so many scientists and engineers that he deserve a black banner here. I am sad.

He was technically my landlord in London, haha. Never met him, though. Only found out because the council sent me mail addressed to him regarding the property. From the visible window on the letter, I was able to find that it was to pay for extra sound insulation on the apartment I was residing in because the council was building some structure nearby.

Really enjoyed his stuff. Always enjoyed that he could do both the grand and the silly with equal aplomb.

The tribute that springs to mind best first is Pogo’s Data and Picard: a beautiful track made from Stewart performing as Picard.

Now cheer up me lads, t’is better to have loved and lost, than never have loved at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZn6c4CeJCc [The one on Pogo’s channel doesn’t include clips of Stewart, just his voice. This is a reupload of the original]

His eyes wet…

(I looked up the original script, it’s “Kiazi’s children. Their faces wet.” But I’m gratified that you knew what I meant.)

I remember watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with my aunt and uncle as a kid. I was always more of a Star Wars fan, but they gave me a huge appreciation for Star Trek. My uncle still has a miniature replica of the USS Enterprise. Rest in peace and thanks for the fond memories.

The TNG episode "The Inner Light" is profound. I didn't expect it in Star Trek.

  • A really beautiful episode and apparently one of his favourites. That moment at the end where he realises what's happening - "Oh, it's me! I'm the one it finds!" - so touching and such a wonderful performance.

    • I think, with this many decades of hindsight, it is not unfair to claim The Inner Light is TNG's City on the Edge of Forever.

      It's every performer in the episode hitting on all cylinders on a script that is doing what science fiction is for.

      ETA: Having poked at it a bit, I have just learned that Morgan Gendel and Peter Allen Fields shared a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for that script... The first time a Star Trek script won a Hugo since the previous award to Harlan Ellison for the script for City on the Edge of Forever. Nice to know there's a semi-objective metric by which the episodes are already rated as equivalently impactful.

  • Richard Riehle, the friend in that episode passed on quite recently as well. Was also in Office Space and a fantastic satire about scope creep in projects for the military, of all things.

  • Yes it's my favourite too. For some reason I had set the VCR when it first aired and I'm really happy I did.

I think “tea, Earl Grey, hot” also qualifies him as the first prompt engineer

> He was given no middle name but later invented one, Hewes, when he joined a union that already had a member named Patrick Stewart.

I never knew that. I wonder if, in the "I, Borg" episode, they chose the name "Hugh" as a reference to this when coming up with a name for the newly individuated Borg. It's a stretch, but I'd like to think so.

RIP Mr. Stewart.

Very sad to hear. I was just listening to the latest episode of Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes' podcast last night, Rick Berman was the guest. They shared some stories about Patrick Stewart.

William Shatner was just on earlier this month, incredible he's still going strong at 95.

  • This podcast is so good. I could listen to Spiner and Frakes talk about things for hours...

Always exuded so much authority & confidence. What a legend.

But he start losing his hair at 17 and really struggled with it. A turning point came when a friend (a Hungarian judo black belt) and his wife wrestled him down and physically cut off his toupée with scissors.

His agent even had him do the Star Trek audition in a wig, but luckily the crew had better ideas.

It absolutely sucks to be a millennial (me) because literally everyone I love in music and culture came of age in the 70s-90s and they're all dying. Ozzy was awful for me. But over the next decade, it's only going to get worse.

I was more of a Shatner movies Star Trek kid but I remember watching The Next Generation when it first came out and liked it. RIP to a legend.

  • Huh, I would have said Star Trek TNG (and the movies, frankly) was more of a Gen X thing, if we have to pick generations. TNG started when I was 12.

    • As a "Gen X" kid - basically sooo many channels had the original series on, that it was a constant background absorption.

      So - when TNG began airing, I would have been about 15 - right squarely in the perfect formative timeframe - it was "ours" more so than the original series ever was.

      1 reply →

  • I mean, I get it, but there's nothing unique to millennials about your role model generation dying off

    • The 70s-90s was basically the boom of international stars, with a highly limited media ventures, so everyone with a TV would be aware of them, at least in the western world.

      From 2000s, culture has been more diluted across the medias.

      1 reply →

    • Just that it is mostly uniquely millennials right now... Sure every generation gets their time, but their comment is about whose time it is now

    • I happen to think Western music and culture peaked through those 3 decades though. I'm talking more film, TV and music not literature.

      So it's the passing of real talent without replacement. I think we live in a pretty dead culture now. Just my opinion of course.

      1 reply →

I was dreading this moment. RIP.

I’ll be re-watching The Inner Light in his honor tonight.

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched something he’s been in but now learning that he’s gone, it feels similar to having a good childhood friend pass into the night

I know Patrick Stewart wasn't in STEM, but his influence in sci-fi is clearly highly regarded. I am sure there are people out there making a difference in STEM right now that were in some significant way inspired by Patrick Stewart. Any chance we could get a black banner up for him?

I'm not usually invested in celebrity deaths, but this one is heartbreaking. TNG was a formative show in my life.

He was a wonderful actor and by all accounts a wonderful person.

I often see my wife uncontrollably sad when she hears about the passing of someone she only (barely) knows from watching them on TV; Today she told me the news about the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart, and was immediately embarrassed for how I felt. I knew all along, but I'm super glad to know how cherished this show was for so many. My favorite episode was the 'Inner Light'.

Patrick Stewart didn’t just play a captain. He helped make kindness, reason and curiosity look genuinely cool. Fly safe Sir Patrick.

As campy as TNG can be, there are so many moral themes and dillemas and Stewart's Picard always grounded them with his dedication to his craft. RIP.

When I was a child, my dad used to bring me to school by car. During the ride, I played "Star Trek" and we always had a technical issue like a phase variance in an induction coil. Usually it ended such that the warp core had to be ejected...

Sir Patrick Stewart inspired me since my childhood. Thank you captain!

Another huge piece of my childhood dies. Very sad, indeed. :(

I think all of us growing up in the 80s and 90s just don't realize that we probably lived in the most awesome time period in human history. Everything was just peak. Vibes, music, film, art, travel.

Now the OGs all die... and I look around and see nothing and no one to step into their humongous foot steps...

His portrayal of Picard helped me to understand what real maturity could look like. He will be greatly missed. Pour one out for Patrick.

Whenever I run into a moral or political or similar dilemma I always ask myself, if this was an episode of TNG, which side would be the baddies and who would Picard side with? Never steered me wrong. RIP Patrick Stewart.

One of my few brushes with fame was when I was in Nevada City, CA for a job interview some twenty years ago. Coming from Seattle, we got there a few days early. Came from the airport, parked and got some coffee, started walking around. Walking down the sidewalk, I see a middle-aged bald guy in a $COLLEGE sweatshirt talking to some folks. Sure enough it is Patrick Stewart, just hanging out. Apparently there was a film festival in town, and he was there to do $SOMETHING I've since forgotten.

I didn't bother him, as much as we both wanted to (he looked busy), what struck me was how casual Sir Patrick Stewart was in his faded sweatshirt talking to some awestruck kid and his mom.

Not only one of the nicest celebrities I've ever met, but one of the nicest people. His memory for people he met and minor details about them was fantastic. As absolutely as charming in real life as you could imagine.

Ah I have fond memories of The Next Generation. And Patrick Stewart introduced me to earl grey tea. I should have a cup tomorrow morning!

I have so many fond childhood memories from TNG together with a persisting, strong feeling of hope for a bright version of the future. Something which gave me a spark of hope and optimism that brought me through the tough teen years and up and through adulthood. And which still to this day gives me a hope for a better future in our world even on days when things feel tough, and even though the current outlooks are dim.

Thank you, Patrick. Rest in peace.

PS. Something that's really sad (at least here in my Scandinavian country) is that it's currently completely impossible to stream TNG anywhere at all. No idea of the situation is the same elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world. Thank goodness I found the complete DVD collection in a thrift store earlier this year. But the saddest thing of all is that the current generation of young people miss out on experiencing the feeling of hope that Jean-Luc Picard and the rest of the TNG crew gave us through their story. And miss out an important vision showing the possibility of a positive and bright version of the future, where humankind has grown into a mature and competent version of itself. Especially now in these dark and uncertain times.

  • There is absolutely some sort of Swedish mechanism that will allow you to watch TNG.

    • Yes, but my point is that it's a pity that culturally important and formative series like TNG become buried and hard to find for the current generation of kids and young adults, who might not have discovered it yet. It kind of feels like an important cultural exchange might now become lost between the generations.

      All because of Paramount's unfortunate corporate choices (at least here in Europe).

RIP to a legend. Picard is an obvious highlight, but I had the pleasure of seeing him on stage in Waiting for Godot too, which was delightful (well, maybe not the best word for the play, but you know).

Many have said it already, and it's also true for me: Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard was my role model as a young teenager. The world is a little less bright without him.

Probably like a lot of people here, I grew up watching TNG in the 90s. There are so many nuggets of wisdom for life, morality, leadership in there. Some episodes makes you think, others sad, others hopeful. It's still my most re-watched series.

The cast also seem like a group of genuinely nice people. It's so nice to see the real world friendship there. A group of people I'd want to be friends with. Sir Patrick Stewart was the perfect Captain Picard. Someone many of us looked up to even though he's a fictional character.

He had many lives. It's cool to note that he didn't take on the Picard role until he was 47.

Never too late to do the other thing. Keep going.

I recall recognizing him as a Roman soldier in "I, Claudius".

  • I was scanning the comments for someone to mention this. I, Claudius is a great show and for the many people who mainly know Stewart from Star Trek, his character is a very fun contrast from Picard.

    • "I, Claudius" (1976) had a number of excellent actors in it—many of them no longer with us. Most (if not all) of the 12 parts are on YouTube and/or archive.org.

      (Highly recommended.)

Oh. This is going to affect me more than or nearly as hard as George Carlin passing back in '08 did. This is a horrible year.

Damn. And me here typing "make it so" to AI agents instead of re-watching TNG.

Let me go and fix that.

The post title alone elevated my cortisol levels. As a fan of TNG, I was dreading this one. RIP.

  • I am with you, it was the same for me and still when it happened, it made me cry. And I don't cry for celebrities, ever.

I grew up without a father. As it happens children choose father figures when that's the case. Capt. Jean-luc Picard was mine. I can't be the only one who did that, that's how powerful that character was.

It's such a shame how few things in media have even attempted to carry the torch TNG lit. There's been enough written about how Trek itself wasn't, but I always hope something else takes up the mantle.

Closest i've seen is The Orville which I found best described as McFarlen using his money to pay for his Larping (in a good way), but was pretty much just copy pasting.

It was such a fascinating show and handled issues with a tact and nuance you're lucky to get today.

Star Trek TNG was a very big influence on my younger self, so this news hits rather hard. Rest in Peace, Sir Stewart, you will be fondly remembered by the many people whose lives you have touched.

RIP. I will never forget your roll in X-Men. Watched when I was young and my dad even dressed up as him (i.e. shaved his head) and I thought it was sick

Gosh this is heartbreaking.

I was fortunate enough to get to chat with him and some of the lead crew of ST:TNG while at a local convention. He was exactly how I imagined he would be in "real life", such a clever and well-spoken class act. RIP <3

A little off topic, but are there any modern utopian/positive sci-fi shows still being released? I feel like ST:TNG was the last of its kind?

Both myself and my wife were in floods of tears at the news. Walter Koenig's passing earlier this week was sad, but this is a whole other level.

Sir Patrick, my captain, you will be sorely missed.

Time to cue the Extras outtakes with Gervais. Stewart was effing funny

I'm finishing up my Voyager watch right now and was already considering TNG next, this seals the deal. TNG is such a cornerstone to my youth and growing up. Everyday after school I'd come home and watch TNG reruns (Tivo). Call it whatever you will but Star Trek and the ethos in it will always hold a very special place in my heart, I've always held it up as the model to aim for. He will be missed.

I loved Star Trek when I was little and he was a big part of that. I loved him in Dune (the one from 1984, one of my favorite movies). He was also in Excalibur, another early obsession of mine. These are very early movies, he already had no hair, he looked pretty much the same way for 50 years. Of course he was great as professor Xavier too. Even the recent Picard series was decent even though he wasn't in his prime anymore.

I grew up with this guy. I will always remember him, his work. I will always smile when he comes on screen. And I will always keep using his facepalm meme with a smirk. Thanks Patrick Stewart.

My first memory of his incredible voice is King Richard (and the narrator's voice) from Lands of Lore. He added something unique to every project he touched.

Man I've cried twice today over this. I guess I really thought of Patrick Stewart as almost like a respected family member in my mind. The state of leadership in the world today is pretty bad, so I guess I'll just have to continue rewatching TNG front to back every couple of years to have an example to live by.

Since nobody mentioned it, let me introduce my friends here to a Christmas special.

Google “Dear Satan”.

He will always be "my" captain. The one I grew up with watching re-runs on television with my mother. Rest in peace.

Seize the time… Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again. - Jean-Luc Picard may he rest in peace.

This is actually so sad, I watched Star Trek to get out of the covid blues in lockdown and was genuinely amazed how much of it held up, RIP.

Can't complain too much about 86 years but I'll miss him. I worry how it'll feel to watch him now.

Thanks for entertaining us and bringing stories to life for all these years Patrick. May you boldly go where no man has gone before.

He was so influential and his performances truly changed my life for the better. He will be sorely missed.

Very sad. I will always remember my first exposure to Patrick Stewart - Comptons Interactive Encyclopedia. Such a fun time at the beginning of my computer adventures in the 90s.

Had the privilege of attending his one-man show of A Christmas Carol in 1992-93. Amazing actor who very obviously loved his craft and his audience.

RIP Sir Patrick

"When I was young, I remember watching my grandfather deteriorate from a powerful, intelligent figure to a frail wisp of a man, who could barely make his own way home."

— Picard in TNG episode Night Terrors

Sir Patricks portrayal of Picard created one of the great characters in fiction. How many of us were influenced by his decency, values and morality, Picard will always be an all time classic. Very sad to hear of his death, a genuinely great actor and all round good person.

RIP to the legend. Thank you for making my childhood and making me believe in the possibility of the better future.

Still remember being a small kid running around the house as my dad had TNG playing on the TV. Patrick was pretty formative in the early years for me.

I also really liked him in a Christmas Carrol (1999). I thought he played the role really well.

We're losing both Jean-Luc Picard and Dr Charles Xavier at the same time.

Quite a sad day.

So many dimensions to his class and talents. I've been lucky enough to see him twice, performing live on stage - as Macbeth, and in Ibsen's The Master Builder. Unforgettable.

I often referred to him as an example of a humble Gentleman. Rest in peace sir

Picard has become a moral example, I don't think anyone but Patrick Stewart could have been the embodiement of a character we could nary live up to.

This news has me so emotionally compromised that I actually signed up for Paramount Plus.

I genuinely wish Apple could figure out a way to respectfully license and preserve his voice to make it the defacto voice of Siri so that my kids would grow up in a world where the intelligent, compassionate voice of Patrick Stewart would be actively associated with seeking, reaching, and exploring knowledge. I know everything nowadays is painfully, annoyingly AI slopped, but I mean this as a long-standing way to preserve his legacy and celebrate what he meant to all of us. That's why it could only be a steward like Apple and not some random-co.ai.

  • I always wanted Majel Barrett's voice. Apparently she did record phonemes before she died, but that's not suitable to properly train a modern TTS system.

    The original incarnation of Android's voice assistant was codenamed after her.

  • I think that his storied career in media arts is already a great preservation of his legacy and impact. There doesn't need to be more than that; we can be satisfied with what we have.

His performance in TNG was so great it left such an impression on adult me. So much so I tend to end my AI agent approvals with "Make it so number 1"

Star Trek: First Contact is one of my favorite movies of all time. Probably on my top 5. That generation of Start Trek (pun intended) was so under rated.

I for one feel a black banner would be appropriate for his contributions to the soul of this place.

Patrick was basically my dad - the characters he played were absolutely instrumental in developing my own values. What a sad day.

<3

It was inevitable, though you always hope for an exception. I don't think I've ever seen any work of his I didn't deeply appreciate.

I enjoyed the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard. Always knew this might happen some day, but always wished it can keep going.

  • Really? I consider the second season of Star Trek: Picard to be one of the worst seasons of TV ever made.

    • Might be the first then? I cannot remember. I disliked the last part of the story line, but not sure if that is the season 3 or season 2 + 3.

      3 replies →

    • Here is not the time and place. Find something nice or mean to say about Picard’s actor or don’t, but don’t be That Guy who picks a fight with someone’s eulogy over a difference of subjective opinion.

Progressive neurological diseases suck. I would like to understand though since Stewart was filming up until this year? What was the time frame like, was it a more sudden onset or was he able to manage somewhat while continuing to film and work?

  • > Progressive neurological diseases suck.

    Absolutely.

    > I would like to understand though since Stewart was filming up until this year? What was the time frame like, was it a more sudden onset or was he able to manage somewhat while continuing to film and work?

    AFAIK, his last role as a film actor was in Doomsday, which comes out in December 2026 but filmed late last year. The timeline does seem incredibly quick for a natural death from Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia if he wasn't somehow secretly and very effectively hiding it for the past near-decade.

    I suspect (but obviously don't know) that he may have checked out on his own terms rather than literally dying due to the disease progression. I understand why people don't like to talk about it, especially given legal issues faced by anyone who may have assisted in many jurisdictions.

    In California it can be legal to assist but technically only if a doctor decides you will live less than 6 months, which IMO is an awfully narrow requirement. I wish people could be more open about it (and that the laws weren't so stupid).

    In any case, shocking and sad news. I never would have guessed we'd lose Patrick Stewart before William Shatner. 86 isn't exactly young or anything, but he seemed to still be incredibly vibrant in very recent productions.

"All good things must come to an end". Loved the Next Generation, loved Picard. RIP captain.

I can still hear the voice: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Rest in peace, i've enjoyed so much his acting. He will always be attached to my childhood memories.

"And that is what it is to be human. To make yourself more than you are." - Jean-Luc Picard

I don't knwo why but I was sure he would live to be much older... He will be missed.

"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I’d rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and allows us to cherish every moment...because they’ll never come again."

~ Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Generations

My favorite episode of TNG was the one where Q shows him what his life would be like if he had just been a mild mannered scientist and not taken risks and never ended up in command. “Tapestry” — Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 6, Episode 15, originally aired February 15, 1993.

That's terribly sad news. From his brilliant performances in TNG to his hilarious performance in Extras he was such an amazing actor who brought kindness and warmth to me whenever I watched him in anything. He introduced me to the magic of Shakespeare and also to the magic of being authentic and kind no matter how successful you are. A real British legend!

Lewy Body Dementia? I suppose Captain Picard will be sharing drinks and swapping stories with a certain Orkan in that celestial watering hole, Seven Forward.

Stewart was rather like Alan Rickman's Galaxy Quest character in real life: when he first joined the TNG cast he was rather arrogant and thought he was demeaning himself, a Shakespearean actor slumming it as a spaceman on terrestrial American television. As a consequence, the rest of the season one cast started pranking him pretty hard on set. In a textbook example of what the British mean when they say they're "taking the piss out of someone", Stewart was humbled and developed a good sense of humor about it all, and would go on to embrace Star Trek and the Picard role, and not take himself so seriously in general. Which to me, is worthy of the absolute highest respect for a performer. He brought the same professionalism and enthusiasm to Picard, Charles Xavier, and Yaotl from TMNT (2007) that he did to any of his Shakespearean roles.

the man who got me into star trek which then got me into computers which got me where I am today, that's extremely sad

Profound shock.

I often think of Picard looking down at us, through a force field in the Enterprise D, sees our wars, our inequalities and slowly shakes his head: "Savages". In his role as Picard he was a bit of a teacher to me.

I used to watch Star Trek TNG back in the 1990s. Patrick was great as Captain Picard.

I did notice that in the latest Wolverine he seemed to be doing not so well with his physical status, looking quite frail and his voice was also no longer strong as it used to be (that was in Logan 2017, so already 10 years ago). Dementia is kind of eating away at the neurons.

I remember him as Gurney Halleck and his brief non-speaking turn as Karla in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

  • I had no idea he played Karla in TTSS, but very familiar with TNG, the X-Men films and his turn as Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's Dune.

    RIP

I usually don't follow this kind of celebrity news. This is the first time, maybe in my life, that I felt the news of a celebrity passing in my gut.

Patrick Stewart's role in TNG was iconic and left a big mark on me as a kid. I felt like TNG really envisioned a society that would be utopic, and I was always inspired by his code, his faith in himself and his morals, and his deep curiosity and compassion for the people around him and the strangers out in the universe.

The world of TNG still lives in a tiny corner of my brain, as a place of both comfort and inspiration.

What can you not say about a man like this. Beloved by all and someone to look up to on and off the screen. Many of us grew up learning from and laughing with Sir Patrick Stewart and his characters. He was an actor's actor, committed to his roles.

No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another, but yesterday we lost someone very important.

He played one of the most exemplary men of the last century, and brought life to an ideal of what humanity could aspire to be. The fiction was a vehicle, and through it he represented our best.

I didn't know anything about him other than his work, which is perhaps as fine an epitaph as any man could have.

a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts

  • There are also many other irrelevant parameters. A thing isn't beautiful because it's pressurized, biodegradable, scheduled, dusty, reversed, volatile, modular, or rubber. However, beautiful things should last, because that would be better.

    Wait, was that a Picard quote, in fact? It has the right tone. (Nope, looks like it's from Age of Ultron.)

THERE. ARE. FOUR. LIGHTS.

I'll never forget this line, and what it means. I think of it often.

In our hearts, you will always live long and prosper, Captain.

Watching Star Trek TNG episodes when they first aired in the late 80s had a powerful effect on my imagination as a child. It would not, and could not, have been the same show without Patrick Stewart. RIP.

I have (re)watched Star Trek TNG more times than I can remember. I got a shock when I saw the title of this post.

In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), Patrick Stewart has a short appearance near the very end as soviet KGB mastermind Karla.

Never have I seen such presence and charisma squeezed into so short a scene.

Honorable mention: thanks to red letter media for keeping the memory alive. And for being dorky and entertaining.

I would watch some TNG tonight in his honor… but since the Ellisons bought Paramount, it’s not available on streaming in my country anymore. (Billionaires really will spoil everything.)

Instead I’ll go find my old DVD box set of “I, Claudius” where he had a memorable role too.

Damn. Doomsday may be his last appearance. I wonder if they filmed anything for secret wars.

Wow, what a loss. So many iconic characters, so much inspirational

sigh.. damn I just started star trek.

  • I rewatched tng 4 times and I was skeptical of strange new worlds but I just watched s2e3 and mind = blown. I couldn't believe that was an episode from a series. Recommended.

I don’t think I can properly explain what he meant to me, but I will try.

Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of people around me who could show me what a good person was supposed to be like. So I found those elsewhere. In games and in Star Trek. To me, Jean-Luc Picard was probably the closest thing I had to a proper father figure.

He embodied everything I felt a person should aspire to be. Intelligent, thoughtful, but also compassionate, principled.

He taught me that you could exercise authority without cruelty, resolve conflict without violence, understood that strength wasn’t about dominating others, but about having the wisdom and restraint not to.

He taught me that you could be rational without being cold, that you could lead without humiliating others, and that kindness and competence weren’t opposites.

These weren’t just qualities I simply admired in a fictional character in a silly science fiction show. They were things I tried to build into myself. They were what I had.

I’m having a really hard time with this. I never know how to articulate how this feels, because I grew up with these role models and most of the people I know haven’t and it feels awkward.

You were a positive force. RIP

[stub for offtopicness]

  • I believe he has earned the black bar. He and the characters he brought to life have been role models to many among us.

  • https://twitter.com/sirpatstew/status/2115891266131300517

    non-x Alt text:

    We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all. We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.

    A son of Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he travelled from the Royal Shakespeare Company to an equally acclaimed career spanning six decades on Broadway, the silver screen and television.

    His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre. He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction's most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise.

    His professional accomplishments were humbly matched by his philanthropy and activism on behalf of human rights, survivors of domestic violence, global refugees, veterans' mental health services, and animal welfare, particularly his cherished foster pitties. He was a Knight, Chancellor, motor sport enthusiast, and lifelong Huddersfield Football fan. He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion and humanity he brought to every role - in his art and life.

    "Like me, Jean-Luc has lived an unusual life that has taken him far beyond the bounds of normal human experience. But he is also someone who has remained true to his earthbound roots, for they are what gave him his identity. In the end, he feels the call of home, as do I." - Patrick Stewart, Making It So: A Memoir

    In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:

    Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund https://alzresearch.org/giving/

    Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources https://alzfdn.org/donate/

  • What are the standards for a black stripe on HN?

    He wasn't an engineer or scientist but I'd wager a majority of the readership of HN, at least those over 35 or so, grew up inspired by Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

    • The convention over the two decades of HN has been to reserve the black bar for eminent contributors to computer science and technology entrepreneurship. That's not at all to diminish the merit of people from other fields. Debates about the black bar are unseemly, so let's leave it here please.

[flagged]

  • > i love how this is top news here because of what, star trek?

    Yes, mostly.

    Star Trek (particularly, but not only, TNG) was seminal sci-fi entertainment in the childhood, teen or young adult eras for many now-40+ nerds who went on to work in tech.

    Patrick Stewart has done a lot of other great work as well, and should be remembered for that, but his role as Picard in Star Trek: TNG makes him highly relevant to this site.

    • > young adult eras for many now-40+ nerds who went on to work in tech

      There is just something about character driven shows, where you have the time to grow with 24~26 episodes per season. What gave us so many good episodes to develop characters that did not feel rushed.

      We old geezers have found memories of TNG, DS9, Voyager (and so many other good series like SG, Farscape, Babylon 5, etc).

      But i hardly see the same cultural impact from the new ST series and sci-fi shows. Battlestar Galactical maybe but that is already a 20 year old show also. The expanse is the only new thing ...

      Beyond that just recycled 9 to 13 episode shows trying to use the old ST, StarWars names and milk it dry. With tons of memberberies to the point of insanity.

      What is left for the teen or young adults these days? What will be their Scifi shows in 20 a 30 years from now to remember.

      Actors like Patrick Stewart are those who came to the TV screen (or movies) often with a strong theatric background, and it allowed them to put forwards strong characters. But its easy to tell we are not getting this type of actors anymore.

      Man, i an talking like a old guy. lol

should not be on HN

  • since you are new here, maybe get familiar with the guidelines :-

    What to Submit

    On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

    • been visiting HN for almost 20 years, likely most/all of its existence

      your wording is rude. when you post a comment reply to someone online, ask yourself if you would choose the words F2F. if they would be rude F2F they are rude here

      lastly, I am allowed to express my opinion, and no harm was done. I express it precisely to try influencing, to nudge the world around me in a better direction. nothing about that is wrong. indeed it is wise

      may you behave better in the future

Same as I said about Walter:

Nah, it's SciFi. They'll find a way of writing them back in. Won't they?