Age: 85
male
Sir Patrick Stewart (born July 13, 1940) is an British film, television and stage actor. He has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century. He is most widely known for his television and film roles, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films. Stewart was born in Mirfield near Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, the son of Gladys, a weaver and textile worker, and Alfred Stewart, a Regimental Sergeant Major in the British Army who served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and previously worked as a general labourer and as a postman. Stewart and his first wife, Sheila Falconer, have two children: Daniel Freedom and Sophie Alexandra. Stewart and Falconer divorced in 1990. In 1997, he became engaged to Wendy Neuss, one of the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and they married on 25 August 2000, divorcing three years later. Four months prior to his divorce from Neuss, Stewart played opposite actress Lisa Dillon in a production of The Master Builder. The two dated for four years, but are no longer together. He is now seeing Sunny Ozell; at 31, she is younger than his daughter. "I just don't meet women of my age," he explains. Stewart has been a prolific actor in performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in over 60 productions.
Two separate accounts of the Crimson Avenger's origins have been printed which complement each other in some areas, but contradict in others. The first origin story appeared in Secret Origins and was written by Roy Thomas, with art by Gene Colan. Taking place in late October 1938, it depicts Lee Walter Travis, the young publisher of the Globe-Leader, a paper devoted to progressive causes. At a costume ball on Halloween, Travis appears in a "highway robber" costume. This is the night of Orson Welles' famous broadcast of The War of the Worlds and — having gotten advance notice of the radio show — a group of criminals dressed in alien-like costumes takes advantage of the ensuing panic in order to rob the party guests. The villain's murder a young journalist, and Travis is enraged, going after the costumed thieves and exchanging gunfire. Travis drives the thieves into a ditch and disappears before the police arrive, now inspired to become the Crimson Avenger. The use of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds in the story was inspired by the fact that the Crimson Avenger's first comic book appearance was dated Oct 1938, the same month as the radio broadcast.
