Señor Editor Ed Combs

Since we're posting about Sir Patrick Stewart, I have a little story. In the middle-1990s, I was out of (my first enlistment) the Army and working as a second-shift security supervisor at a Connecticut whaling museum. Patrick Stewart was visiting for several days, researching his role as Ahab in an upcoming version of Moby Dick. Everyone had orders to leave him alone as he studied, and he had access to the museum that the general public did not. My security guys would check in on him occasionally, but we steered clear as much as possible, so he could do his research in peace. One of the guards had a very brief chat with him, and mentioned that his supervisor (me) was a fan. On his last day of research, Mr. Stewart knocked on the door of the security office. Nothing was wrong. He'd just heard that I was a fan and wanted to come thank me in person. He stayed and chatted with me for about ten minutes. We talked about Star Trek, of course, but also Excalibur and some of his other roles. We talked about his experience at the museum and how much he'd enjoyed it. He was very appreciative that we'd made sure no one interfered with his studies and thanked me repeatedly. He was an incredibly gracious, kind man of obviously enormous intelligence. I wonder how many stars - especially at the peak of their celebrity - would walk across a 17-acre museum, in the dark, to chat with a nobody for ten minutes. But Patrick Stewart did.