TREKKY FAVOURITE
 From filling space to outer space
 Dan Ballard
 The West Australian
 Thursday October 16
   BLUFF Yorkshireman Patrick Stewart was not prepared for the adulation
 when he took over the captain's chair on the Enterprise.
   "I know now that sitting in that chair carries a significance quite
 unlike any other acting role one might have," he said.
   Before being galvanised into service for Star Trek: The Next Generation,
 Stewart had enjoyed a lucrative show business career in England.
   Yet it took that first trip to Tinseltown to transform him into the
 international celebrity he is today.
   "I knew it would be good for my career," admits Stewart, "but I never
 thought it would have the tremendous response that the series generated. It
 was estimated that 40 per cent of American homes tuned in each week when
 the show was on."
   Trekkies everywhere now recognise him and he is a favourite guest with
 fans at conventions.
   He has also moved in to a mainstream Hollywood career and played the
 chief protagonist to Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts in the New York-based
 thriller Conspiracy Theory.
   He almost had his nose bitten off by Gibson, forcing him to wear a
 band-aid for the rest of the film, thereby proving that playing the heavy
 in a Hollywood movie carries its own health warning.
   He has recently been in Australia playing the role of the one-legged
 mariner, Captain Ahab, in a made-for-television version of Herman
 Melville's literary classics, Moby Dick.
   Acting wasn't always Stewart's most obvious choice of career. Never one
 of the pretty boys, he looks tough and reveals, "I was only 19 when I lost
 all my hair. But really it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because
 I can now wear wigs which completely transform the way I look."
   As a 15-year-old in Yorkshire Stewart at first seemed destined to follow
 his mates into either heavy industry or agriculture.
   Instead, he got lucky and spent 18 months as a trainee journalist.
   "The year was 1955," he remembers. "The headmaster at my school found me
 this job on the local weekly newspaper. It meant spending most of the time
 on obituaries and cycling around reporting on council meetings, which were
 very dull.
   "But I was interested in amateur dramatics, which was what I really
 wanted to do.
   "Things came to a head when I had a confrontation with the sub-editor
 after a local building burned down when I should have been reporting on a
 council meeting.
   "I had paid people to take notes for me on local happenings, but this was
 the end of the line for me. It was time to pack my bags and look for a new
 career."
   With that experience behind him, the young Stewart realised he would have
 to make the choice between journalism and acting.
   "It wasn't a difficult decision to make," he reflects. "Acting won out,
 and that's what I've been doing ever since."
   Stewart still feels very close to his Yorkshire roots, despite the time
 he has spent in America.
   "Being there, has given me the good life," he agrees, "but the rest of me
 is still very English. I would never become an American citizen, but dual
 nationality would be great. That way I would be able to be more involved in
 the life of both countries."
   Stewart admits he has been a workaholic, often putting his work before
 family relationships. An early marriage suffered because of this. He
 separated from his wife in 1990, while he has a son and daughter, both now
 grown up.
   He believes he is now striking a much better balance between his personal
 life and a successful career which often means global travel taking him
 away from home for lengthy periods.
   He's much in demand, with more films awaiting him, Stewart is relishing a
 return to his theatrical roots later this year in a production of Othello.
   Meanwhile, he's making the most of his free time in a career that has
 recently left few short breaks for relaxation.
   "The space of time between being offered a great stage role like Othello
 and the actual start of rehearsals," he confides. "As an actor, that's my
 idea of heaven."
... He's dead, Jim ... You grab his phaser, I'll take his wallet.  
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]
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