Making It So: A Memoir

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This disclaimer aside, Stewart is a fabulous raconteur and I found the book delightful, neither overly triumphalist or self-deprecating, with moments of true humour and pathos along the way. But the real reason I became devoted to Mr Dormand was that he was the man who introduced me to the works of William Shakespeare. One day, early in the term, he placed a copy of The Merchant of Venice on every desk. At the time, I did not know that Mr Dormand was also an amateur actor and director. Nor did I have any idea what the hell The Merchant of Venice was. Making It So is dedicated to Dormand and another teacher, Ruth Wynn Owen, once an understudy to Peggy Aschcroft and later a voice coach, who developed Stewart as an actor and is responsible for his received pronunciation. When I ask if he would have achieved what he has done without the confidence given to him by these adults, he says, “I think something would have happened, but it would have taken much longer.” I wonder if that underplays their impact. Had he not been advised to apply for a scholarship to drama school, he would not have gone – there was no other money. “Here I was, a secondary school boy, getting everything paid for,” he says. “My schooling, the goods I needed, tights, ballet shoes, work clothes, scripts, all of that. [The scholarship] paid for everything.” His time at drama school went well, but still Stewart didn’t walk into a job. At repertory auditions early in his career he would turn up in a wig, then whip it off halfway through to reveal his bald head, hoping to impress on directors that if they hired him into their company they were getting two actors for the price of one. (It worked, eventually.) If I do have a quibble, it is an odd one for a Star Trek fan. I really wanted more about the time BEFORE TNG. I really wanted to read more about the RSC, the films and all the other productions.

Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart | Goodreads

Mr Dormand was tall and handsome, with an informal manner that put us kids at ease. He wasn’t too informal with us – if he caught a pupil glazing over with an inattentive stare, he wouldn’t hesitate to nail this pupil in the head with a piece of chalk. We actually loved him for this. If you somehow managed to think fast enough to catch the piece of chalk he’d aimed your way, you received a “Bravo!” from Mr Dormand and a round of applause from the rest of the class. And then the line "Once again I had cheated on my wife with a much younger woman, I really needed to do better by the women in my life." Followed by the story of him falling in love with a girl who was 10 years old when she watched him as a middle-aged man in Star Trek. And how her colleagues could tell when they met that she was in awe of him unlike the many other celebrities she saw all the time at the restaurant where she waitressed. And how modest she was, not to tell him until their second date that this New York waitress is also *gasp* an aspiring singer. So cringy and painfully cliche.

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I tell Stewart that I am surprised he has been able to locate the good in his father, to consider him a positive figure, and we wonder together what that might have taken. “I’ve already mentioned the ‘T’ word,” he says, meaning therapy. “It was a friend who introduced me to the idea of therapeutic sessions and they’ve been a part of my life ever since. Invaluably and particularly since I’ve come to live in the United States, where if you don’t have a therapist you’re weird.” Thanks for reading, and if you have a favourite Jean-Luc Picard GIF be sure to share in the comments! I’ve got ideas. I’d like to do more comedy. Laughter is glorious’: with his wife Sunny Ozell. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images It’s not a get-out,” he says. “But an understanding, yes.” Then he goes on, “I always used to feel that my father and his violence is what had the biggest impact on my life. There have been times when I have been violent. Rarely to other people, and never to my children. But I can get angry. And it comes from my father.” The subject that most captivated me was English literature. In my second year at the Mirfield Secondary Modern School, I was assigned to the Eng-lit class of Cecil Dormand, who was also my form master. He was to have a transformational impact on my life.

Patrick Stewart’s Memoir, MAKING IT SO, Arrives in October Patrick Stewart’s Memoir, MAKING IT SO, Arrives in October

In his memoir, Stewart describes his relationship with his children as “a work in progress”. When I ask how things are now he looks briefly rattled and casts his eyes downwards. “It’s very sad,” he says. “I love my children. But our relationships, they haven’t worked out.” Stewart maintains strong links to his grandchildren – less so their parents, though in the book he seems on good terms with his son, Daniel, who followed him into acting. He goes on, “It will always be a place of sadness in my life.” From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: I have followed his career since from a respectful distance, and when I learned he was writing his memoir, I was over the moon with excitement. Stylist Warren Alfie Baker; grooming Peter De Oliveira; photographer’s first assistant Jesse Belvin @gangganggenhis; second assistant Wacunza Clarke @dinbaedin; prop stylist Chloe Kirk @cb kirk; shot at Dust Studios ‘Read it out loud, you idiots!’He comes off as extremely unlikeable. Talking about how as a teen, he used to make a disabled boy beat his stump of a hand into a wall until it bled, and then bragging just a few lines later about how his empathy for a dying squirrel must have been an early sign he'd be a great actor because he had so much empathy? Oof. The book paints the picture of a man genuinely dedicated to the Arts, in particular to his career as a Shakespearean actor. It is clear that he finds true joy and passion in embodying complex characters and that his whole life experience is coloured by his gentle sensibilities. He is rather serious by nature and finds true meaning in works of art and performances by actors he admires, which naturally leads him to imbue meaning in everything he does. I would have liked to have said to him, ‘Dad, there were so many aspects of you and your life that have taken me by the hand and led me on my way through adulthood and into old age. You are, in many respects, an example to me. And in other respects, you are still a bad man.’”

Book Review: ‘Making It So,’ by Patrick Stewart - The New

Even now, Stewart’s age hasn’t quite caught up with some of the walk-on parts he played as a novice – an 85-year-old butler, or someone’s ancient American father in an obscure Shaw play. “I was dreadful and everyone knew it,” he recalls of the latter. He describes some of these early humiliations with the self-deprecating wisdom only 60 years’ hindsight can bestow. We did, and we were dreadful. None of us could make sense of what we were reading, what the story was, or what most of the words meant. “Adversary”? “Void”? “Dram”? “Obdurate”? Nobody in our world used words like that. To Stewart the discovery was a breakthrough. I ask now if becoming aware of his father’s illness made it easier to comprehend, if not excuse, his actions? So if you are on the fence about reading or, better yet, making the 18+ hour commitment to listening to this memoir I can only hope this silly review helps you decide which side to come down on.I also wasn't as thrilled with the episodic recaps of TNG. I enjoyed his takes on the episodes on later viewing, but more on the actual production would have been nice. He glosses over the very real conflicts with Roddenberry, the mess with Gates McFadden and the clear inability to connect as an actor with Diana Muldaur. While I knew about much of his major stage work, I enjoyed following his journey from local groups as a young teen to some of the world's most prominent theaters and productions. He also spends a good deal of time on his early home life and family, and reveals his later struggles balancing the punishing work schedules and his marriages and children. He is open and honest about his triumphs and his failures.