Patrick Stewart dies at 86: Watch the 'Star Trek' star's cheeky 1994 interview

First of all, I want to know where you got that non-regulation uniform. You did? You look a mess, frankly. I mean, just look at the shape. Put your hands just here in front of you. Here, and just give it a pull down. Sharper than that, just go, tug. You got it. Terrific. When they're recasting the captain, I'm going to suggest you for the role. Come on, buddy. How much Star Trek have you watched? You tell me about my character, Jean-Luc Picard. Of course you do. So what can I tell you? He's a Frenchman from planet Earth. He went to Starfleet Academy, he's never been married, he speaks with an English accent, which people seem to find surprising given that he's a Frenchman, but he speaks English so perfectly that he does it without an accent, he loves Shakespeare and music and detective stories. Hey look, it's What's-His-Name, is one of the things they say, or, no, I get called Captain a great deal of course, which on the whole I like, in that I never did military service of any kind, so it's nice to be called Captain without having to do any of the hard work And most people still know me as Jean-Luc Picard. Few people know that my name is actually Patrick Stewart, and I'd like more of them to know it than really do. I didn't really replace William Shatner as Captain of the Enterprise because when I became Captain of the Enterprise D, Bill Shatner was still Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, you know, one of the other ones, with another letter attached to it. I can't remember which one it was. Because Bill was still making movies, so people kept asking me, how does it feel to be filling Bill Shatner's shoes? Well, Bill, we're still filling. his own captain's shoes perfectly adequately, but to make it easy for him I was just nice and charming and friendly as I always have been to everybody who's been on our show. I have a reputation for that. How did we get along? Just great, just great. Well, he got along well with me because I'm easy to get along with, he's difficult to get along with, but I am such a sympathetic and understanding and warm and loving and affectionate human being that I somehow made it work. Let me tell you, you must never ever believe anything that Marina Sirtis Anyway, on the set, she said that you and the rest of the crew were very rowdy and actually had directors walk off and never return. Was it a lot like this making the movie? We lost a lot of directors while we were making the movie, yes. No, it's not true. No directors walked off the set and never returned. So let me lay that particular ghost on one side. But yes, we were rowdy. We had the reputation in Hollywood of being the nicest but the most undisciplined show to work on. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was always a lot of fun. I have seen directors down on their hands and knees begging us to rehearse a scene because we were having too much fun just making jokes and singing and fooling around. No, no directors walked off the movie. Everything was as nice as it could possibly be. I've yet to play Macbeth. I hope somebody will ask me sometime soon. Thank The adventure of it all. I couldn't resist the thrill of... Traveling to Hollywood, California, USA, and to work there on a TV series. If I'd said no to the job, I would have never really forgiven myself. you.