From his acclaimed stage performances to his legendary onscreen work in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Sir Patrick Stewart has captivated audiences worldwide and across multiple generations. However, the two-time Olivier Award-winning actor admittedly didn’t hit his professional stride until his 40s, when he landed the iconic role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. Equally lauded are his stage performances, bringing to life the works of Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett. Stewart tells the story of his life in an open and frank way in his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, which was released in 2023.
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For his Treat, Stewart reminisces on seeing Elia Kazan’s haunting 1954 drama, On the Waterfront as a 13-year-old “obsessed” with technicolor. The stark black and white imagery and Marlon Brando's searing portrayal of a shipyard worker impact Stewart to this day.
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This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When I was 13, I saw Elia Kazan's production of On the Waterfront, and I've never seen a film like that before. When I arrived at the cinema that day and saw it was in black and white, I was so disappointed because I'd become obsessed with Technicolor. I loved it. I became obsessed with Technicolor and Doris Day.
You know how I got in to see On the Waterfront? I did what I did with all films that I wanted to see that I wasn't old enough to see. I would wait until an adult – I always hoped for a couple, but sometimes it could be just one person – would come in to buy a ticket. And I would say to them, 'Look, here's the money, would you mind buying a ticket for me? Like, I'll come with you and then I won't bother you anymore.' And people would, at least in my community, would say yes. They'd give me the ticket, and I would go and sit on my own somewhere. It had an impact.
I've always said that he shouted out as Brando, horribly beaten up, blood pouring down over his face, and staggering along to get back up onto the key side. And just as he arrives there, you hear the foreman yell out, 'Everybody works today!' I've been misquoting that. But I heard that and it had… I just feel so lucky.
It was about that time that my English teacher, Cecil Dorman, said to me 'The work you're trying to do, Patrick, is inside you. All you really have to do is release it.' Now, those sound like very abstract words, but to a 13-year-old, who felt uncomfortable around other 13-year-olds and much more comfortable around adults, it was a life-changing experience.