It is with great sadness, and honestly no small measure of disbelief, that I acknowledge the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart, an actor best known to those of us in the fandom community as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and in related films and projects, as well as Professor Charles Xavier in the various X-Men franchise movies.
In addition, he was an accomplished voice actor, often collaborating with Seth MacFarlane and appearing in a reoccurring role on American Dad, as well as various guest appearances on Family Guy. Further, we was the narrator on the two Ted films. This is just a tiny sampling, the full scope of which would take volumes to properly convey.
Of course, all of this is just a small portion of his acting repertoire. His work on stage and screen includes numerous Shakespearean plays, including playing Prospero in The Tempest in New York City in 1995. It was at Central Park's Delacorte Theatre and I was lucky enough to have seen it thanks to a friend of mine knowing a friend of his.
The thing that makes this even harder, even more difficult to fully grasp, is that fact that only a few days earlier we lost Walter Koenig, another Star Trek alumni who played Pavel Chekov on the small and big screen, as well as a number of other memorable roles. Most notably, he played Psi Cop Alfred Bester on Babylon 5.
That's a lot of loss to our collective geek consciousness in a very short period. It seems unfair almost but as we must all realize, it's not about us. These two men weren't only entertainers, they were humanitarians and people of excellent character. The world we live in is lessened by their departures.
"But if the while I think on Thee, dear friend, / All losses are restored, and sorrows end."
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 30
To Patrick Stewart and Walter Koenig, Rest in Peace and Live On in Memory.
Do not forget them and be inspired by them.
AD
Barking Alien
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