// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Sir Patrick Stewart: Actor who moved effortlessly between Star Trek and Shakespeare
Sir Patrick Stewart, who has died at the age of 86, was a stage and screen great who balanced Hollywood stardom with an equally stellar career in classical theatre.
While many actors are typecast, he moved effortlessly from Shakespeare and Dickens to the command of the USS Enterprise and his famous wheelchair in X-Men.
In a career that spanned seven decades, Sir Patrick received multiple awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
One of the world's most versatile actors, he mastered both comedy and tragedy, science-fiction and historical drama - despite the entertainment industry's traditional dislike of bald heads.
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Watch: The life of legendary actor Sir Patrick Stewart
Patrick Hewes Stewart was born in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 13 July 1940.
His mother Gladys was a textile worker. She was active in amateur dramatics and encouraged her three sons to take part.
His father was a former Sergeant Major in the Parachute Regiment whose experience during the wartime evacuation of Dunkirk had shredded his mental health.
"My father was a very potent individual," Stewart later recalled. "It was said that when he strode on to the parade ground, birds stopped singing."