Patrick Stewart RIP

Another sad day for the sci-fi nerd in me. I heard that Patrick Stewart has just died.

So back in the mid eighties, I liked to watch by horror film I could get hold of. This is back in the days of VHS and an absence of  age checks. Given my height, demeanour and facial hair, I had been able to get away with renting the best horror films since I was 14. I had a few favourites, mostly involving zombies, or something like that. 

One such film was Lifeforce. Not true zombies but something like space, zombie vampires. So perfect for me. This is the film where I first remember seeing Patrick Stewart. A classic Shakespearian actor in a trashy British horror film.

Images of him have featured in my blog many times. My image of him is as Mr Perdue, the maître d at the L'Idiot restaurant has become my personal motivator on many occasions. This was a character that touch a place in my head that perfectly matched my sense of humour. Rewatching him in L.A. Story is one of my favourite things to do. 

This was all before Star Trek: The Next Generation. This still continues to be relevant for me down to the image of his face on a Christmas jumper, surrounded by snowflakes over the words "make it snow, make it snow, make it snow". I watched every episode of this show. Multiple times. Star Trek is the other faith from my Sci Fi pantheon but it is a pretty cool one.

He has been in a lot of other stuff over the years. Not least of which was Coronation Street. This was a bit part in a show that would mean nothing to anyone beyond the UK. As the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad always amused me. Not to mention being the best version of Professor X.