His iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard was by no means secure for Patrick Stewart at the time. To convince the creator of Star Trek, the actor even had a wig flown in from London.
From today’s perspective, it’s hard to imagine that anyone other than the great Sir Patrick Stewart could embody the commander of the USS Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard. But that was by no means a given.
Stewart, already in his mid-40s at the time and with thinning hair, did not fit the image that Eugene “Gene” Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, had for his new protagonist.
Roddenberry presumably wanted a kind of young William Shatner, a daring adventurer like Indiana Jones, and not a “bald Englishman,” as producer Rick Berman revealed in a 2006 interview (via Television Academy Foundation).
Ultimately, Patrick Stewart had to audition four times to get the role – he actually had no desire for long filming days in the USA. The Englishman finally got the role because Berman advocated for him. However, the whole story is even more curious than that.
“Take the Englishman, but get rid of the wig!”
How did Patrick Stewart get the role? As Patrick Stewart reported in the Graham Norton Show, he received a call from his agent before his fourth and final audition. The agent asked if Stewart perhaps had a wig or hairpiece.
Apparently, the idea was that Gene Roddenberry would warm up to him as Picard more easily if he had hair. As an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart actually possessed a very high-quality hairpiece. However, it was located in London.
For the audition, the hairpiece was specially flown in from England, as Stewart recalled with a laugh: “Those were the days.” You can check out Stewart’s version of the story in this clip – it even features a picture of the actor with the hairpiece:
How did the audition go? Patrick Stewart reports that he actually wore the hairpiece for the audition. On-site, he even had a stylist who properly styled the false hair. Back in his dressing room, she removed the hairpiece when suddenly there was a knock.
According to Patrick Stewart, the people from Paramount Pictures, who were to shoot on their lot, came in to thank him for his time “and all the nonsense,” as the actor put it.
At that point, it was clear for his stylist: She said that the producers must have come in because he had the role and they wanted to see him without the wig.
Indeed, Berman reports that Patrick Stewart and another actor auditioned before John Pike, the then-head of Paramount. Afterward, he said the relieving words: “Take the Englishman, but get rid of the wig!”
