Patrick Stewart was not only the greatest Star Trek leader, but ‘an absolute gentleman’ when he worked in Toronto - Toronto Star

The actor, who died Wednesday at 86, filmed 2000's 'X-Men' in the city.

Patrick Stewart, star of “Star Trek: Picard,” attended the Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., in January 2023.

As an actor, Patrick Stewart was humble and gracious, but as Jean-Luc Picard, he was without contest the greatest captain in the Star Trek franchise, says former Toronto Star TV critic Tony Wong.

Among Star Trek’s pantheon of respected Starfleet leaders, the classically trained stage actor carried a theatrical pedigree that distinguished him from the rest of the crew.

“No one wore Lycra with more grace and gravitas,” Wong told the Star. “He gave Shakespearean heft to what was essentially a cartoon character.”

Speaking on red carpets events in New York, stars including Tom Blyth, Himesh Patel, Bradley Whitford and Marisa Abela mourn the late actor Sir Patrick Stewart, and discuss his legacy. (Oct. 30, 2026)

Stewart died Wednesday after “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy body dementia,” according to a statement from his representative. He was 86 years old.

The news prompted an outpouring of grief, including from his lifelong friend Ian McKellen, who described his fellow Brit in an Instagram post as “the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic.”

Another former Star TV critic, Rob Salem, met Stewart while the actor was promoting 1994’s “Star Trek Generations,” the seventh instalment in the film series and the first to bring Stewart’s Picard to the big screen, alongside William Shatner’s Capt. James T. Kirk.

“These are two very different actors and certainly different interpretations of the character of starship captain,” Salem said.

The two actors sat with Salem for separate, back-to-back interviews. Despite Shatner’s notoriously competitive nature, Salem said it was apparent that the two stars admired each other.

“Stewart could not have been more effusive in his praise of Shatner,” he said.

Flowers are placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of actor Patrick Stewart, who died Wednesday at 86. (Oct. 29, 2026)

Both actors brought very different styles to the role. Shatner’s Kirk was “an over-the-top, histrionic physical interpretation of what a captain would be,” Salem said. “Then along comes Stewart, who is cerebral, thoughtful and diplomatic.”

As Stewart once recalled, Picard wasn’t a role he necessarily wanted, nor one he thought would last more than one TV season.

“I was very clear about what to expect: ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ was going to be an utter failure and I would be on my way back to England within a few months,” he told Salem in a 2013 interview to promote a reunion with his co-stars at Toronto ComiCon.

“I could make some money for the first time in my life, get a suntan and go home.”

Over seven seasons, Stewart appeared to develop a deeper appreciation for Picard and the meaning the character had come to hold for audiences from all walks of life.

“I talk with physicists and astronauts, presidents of universities … I mean, good lord, even two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and at least one Secretary of State … who have said, ‘Your show meant everything to me and made a big difference to my life,’” he said.

“We learned through Frank Sinatra’s wife’s hairdresser that Frank never missed a single episode.”

Stewart’s collegiality extended beyond his fellow Star Trek cast members and into other productions.

Greg Holmgren, who worked as assistant location manager on the 2000 superhero film “X-Men” in Toronto, described the actor as “an absolute gentleman” to everyone around him. This was a time when performers still mingled with the crew, he said, not yet isolated during productions as they often are over privacy concerns in the age of social media.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen star in “X-Men.”

Stewart was still establishing himself as Prof. Charles Xavier, not yet knowing it would be another defining character in his career. Some scenes were filmed at Casa Loma and Roy Thomson Hall, alongside co-stars who included McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Anna Paquin. 

“All of the key cast members seemed to have a very cordial relationship,” Holmgren said.

“The kind of temperament that he brought to his role in Star Trek was very close to his actual persona.”

Stewart sometimes disputed these assertions. When he attended the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival to promote his role as a Nazi punk gang leader in the thriller “Green Room,” he tried to distance himself from both the captain and the professor.

Patrick Stewart played against type in the 2014 thriller “Green Room.”

“The perception has grown and grown that Patrick Stewart is these two guys, and I’m not,” he told me, setting aside his laptop, where he was watching a Huddersfield Town football match. The actor was a passionate supporter of the British club, serving as president of its youth academy from 2010 until his death.

Stewart said Picard and Xavier were known for their decency and courage, and later in his life he wanted juicier, unfamiliar parts.

“It’s very nice, but it’s not interesting eventually,” he said of repeating the characters.

“I’m always on the lookout for something that is very different from what I’m mostly known for.”

Often his acting peers would go out of their way to express their admiration.

When Stewart agreed to return to Picard for the 2020-23 TV series “Star Trek: Picard,” he said he was eager to explore the character, now a retired Starfleet admiral, at a different point in his life.

During a Television Critics Association panel for the show, his Toronto-born co-star Alison Pill spoke about the complexities Stewart took on for the role.

Alison Pill, Stewart’s co-star on “Star Trek: Picard,” said watching him play a retired admiral was a “more vital experience.”

As wonderful as he was in ‘Next Generation,’” she said, “watching the same man who’s no longer a captain, who’s no longer in uniform, who no longer has the authority of Starfleet behind him (makes it) just a different, more vital experience.”

It’s “a beautiful story of a man wrestling with his mortality and his lack of power,” she added. 

Evan Evagora, who played Romulan refugee Elnor, went further in praising Stewart on set: “He’s just everything you want in a leader. I’d say if I had to choose between Patrick Stewart or Jean-Luc Picard as my leader, I’d go with Patrick any day of the week.”

David Friend writes about arts and culture in Toronto and beyond. Follow him on Instagram and Bluesky.