Patrick Stewart: The Next Generation

"You didn't tell him?"

"No, I didn't. I couldn't. He was so deeply in the shit. And I respected him so much."

"So who is it?"

"I couldn't tell, it's impossible that I could tell you."

"No, it's possible. It's not in the realm of impossible," I say with some authority.

"But I won't."

"Ah ..."

"A few weeks later, Ben told me that he was in L.A. and someone came over to him and said, 'Mr. Stewart, I've just got to tell you that I love your work, I think you're a wonderful actor and I've always ...' Now Ben was a little bit more sedentary than me. He said, 'I'm terribly sorry, but I'm not Patrick Stewart, my name is Ben Kingsley.' And she looked blankly at him and he said, 'Oh, I am actually a very good friend of Patrick Stewart's.' And she said, 'Well, congratulations on being a good friend of his.' Ben just laughed and laughed when he told me this.

"Last year, I saw this fascinating documentary on serial killers. Weren't you the narrator?"

"Oh, wasn't that a great piece of work? The producer, Mark Olshaker, that's O-L-S-H-A-K-E-R, has been a friend of mine for quite a long time, and he made a documentary about Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet in England, and because I knew Ken when he was first in this business--I auditioned him, and then employed him. He was the most brilliant and most gifted young actor that I had ever seen. Who knew what an epic figure he would become? Anyway, the producer asked me if I would narrate this documentary about Ken, which I did. And then he said he'd find something else for me to do. Then he sent this shocking documentary about serial killers. The best part was that he found out that the guys at the FBI were some of the biggest fans of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' and that there's a standing invitation to go to Washington and look around the FBI offices, which I will definitely do someday. What a treat that will be."

"In Jeffrey, you'll play a gay man ..."

"Yes, that's a treat."

"Is this the first gay character you have ever played?"

For a while, Stewart says absolutely nothing. I think I might have offended him, although I can't imagine how. Finally, he clears his throat and says, "So far as I'm aware, yes."

"And in The Pagemaster ... "I barely finish saying the name of the film before Stewart jumps in.

"I think this film's going to be extraordinary. It begins with live actors, Macaulay Culkin, and then it switches to animation and fantasy. And that's when my part comes in. I play a character called Adventure, who leads him through the world of adventure. This kid is so timid, he keeps an earthquake survival kit by his bike. He goes to the library and he falls and hits his head, and out of these books come three animated figures, Adventure--who is a pirate in the Long John Silver school; Fantasy, whose voice is Whoopi Goldberg's; and Horror. These three make a deal with him, in that if he uses his library card to get them out of there, because they haven't been taken out for a long time, then they will show him a great time. He meets Moby Dick. Every kind of thrilling, terrifying, exhilarating, awful fantasy that a boy can have, he does. And he changes. It's about courage, but it's also a film about the importance of reading."

"Is that M-O-B-Y?" I ask, but Stewart doesn't respond.

"I know you don't like talking about your personal life ..."

"No, I don't." He walks to the window, turns on the air conditioner, turns it off and sits back down. "Yes, I was married, I am no longer. I have two children, both sons. One of them is an actor, a very good one, Daniel Stewart. They're both currently living in England, but they have spent a lot of time here. I have two brothers, they have a wife each, and I adore them, and they have seven children between them, and their children have children, and it's a great family. My parents aren't alive, but I wish they could have seen the success I've had. They would have been proud. And that about tidies the whole thing up, don't you think?"

And it would have, too, but a few weeks later, when I call Stewart to check on a couple of things, I find him in his hotel room, with a voice that's almost unrecognizable.

"This has happened to me only two or three times in my life," he whispers, "because I have a voice like weathered leather. But everyone has a point ... either their stomach gets upset or their back goes out. And this is what happened to me. My voice is telling me to stop, which I can in about four more days, and then I'm going to Mexico with my girlfriend..."

"Ummmmm," I say, "a girlfriend, huh?"

"I was not confident enough to talk to you about this when we first met, but I am now. Although I'm not going to tell you who she is, just that there is such a person."

"I'm happy for you," I say.

"Yes, this is indeed very good for me. Very, very good."

"Is she an actress?" I ask, as if we're playing 20 questions.

"No, not an actress, but, nevertheless, an entertainer. I felt that when you were here I was being unnecessarily guarded in my responses and now I feel that wasn't necessary. There is someone in my life that I'm involved with and she's making me tremendously happy, and I'm feeling better about everything ... my career, my relationships with my kids, better than I ever did before. And I wanted to say that to you." Which just tidies things up a bit more, don't you think?

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Martha Frankel interviewed Camille Paglia for the October Movieline.

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