He began to look for film and TV roles during the mid 70's taking short breaks from the RSC and his predominating stage work. Most of his early roles were in classically based or period costume films such as 'Hedda' and 'Lady Jane'.

Following these early appearances were small roles during the late 70's, early 80's in B-movies like 'Doctor and the Devils', 'Code Name : Emerald', 'Life Force' and 'Wild Geese II'.

As the 80's progressed he gradually began to appear in bigger budget films in a variety of roles, the highlights of which are listed below.

Amongst those cast were well known stars of the time like Nicol Williamson (as Merlin) and Corin Redgrave. Also cast were many fine actors who would go on to become famous names of today like Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren and of course Patrick Stewart.

Stewart plays Leondegrance, a nobleman and father of Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) who eventually marries King Arthur to re-unite the throne of Ancient Britain. Stewart first appears as the heroic Leondegrance, when challenging for the right to try to remove the mythical sword Excalibur from the stone.

He is unsuccessful, but defends the young Arthur who removes it shortly afterwards and then joins Arthur in his fight for the throne. Leondegrance becomes a knight of the round table and his daughter Guenevere become Queen.

Filmed largely in Ireland amongst the mud and mist, Boorman's film is a treat to look at and is well worth seeking out either on video or the occasional TV run.

The film is a visually stunning adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel, with a fine cast of leading UK and European actors and a haunting soundtrack, but ultimately it never quite succeeds in fully capturing the scope of the book.

If stories are to be believed Lynch certainly shot the contents of the book, but several parts of the plot and character development were lost in the final editing. Stewart's character of Gurney Halleck is shown solely as a warrior in the film, when in fact he was also written as a poet and musician in the book.

What roles he took were mainly small cameos in films like Steve Martin's wonderful 1991 film 'LA Story'. Here Stewart portrayed the Maitre d' of the exclusive 'L'Idiot' restaurant who determines what his guest's may eat by first studying their bank balances and assets!. Not a major success at the time of it's release, this is a sometimes hilarious look at life and culture in LA. 
Worth watching.
 

In Mel Brooks 1993 highly disappointing spoof film 'Robin Hood Men in Tights', Stewart appears in the final few frames as King Richard, with a delightful parody of Sean Connery's role in Kevin Cosner's 'Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves'. 
Not one of Mel Brooks finest films it has to be said.
 

In the 1994 action film 'Gunmen', Stewart appears briefly in a couple of scenes as the very nasty wheelchair bound drugs baron 'Loomis' who eventually gets his comeuppance by being buried alive! 
Despite the efforts of it's stars Mario Van Peebles and Christopher Lambert, this film also got buried at the box office....
 

Providing the voice for the character of a pirate cum book in the animated/live action film 'The Pagemaster' re-united Stewart with Whoopi Goldberg who also provided a voice. The story centres around a young boy played by Macaulay Culkin who is locked in the public library and has to pass three tests of courage with the help of the books before he can go home.
An interesting idea that failed to keep it's promise.

Although the film gave Patrick his first leading role in a big budget feature, it was ultimately disappointing as much of the character of Picard fans had come to know and love, was lost as he dealt with the tragic loss of his brother and nephew, leaving Picard a rather sombre and depressed figure for most of the movie.

However the film did reasonable business at the box office and received mixed reviews which were sufficiently encouraging enough for Paramount to continue the series of films with the TNG crew alone.

Things would improve!

The first of these was the excellent role of Sterling, the gay interior decorator in 'Jeffrey', a 1995 film based on Paul Ruddnick's play about trying to survive the AIDS problem in New York's gay community.

The film in general never quite adds up to the sum of it's parts, but it is both witty and thoughtful, and should not be missed for Stewart's superb portrayal of Sterling.

Mace has lots of information about the shady work of his ex-boss at the DIA, held on computer, which would ruin his Presidential campaign if it ever got to the world's press.

The complicating factor here is that Mace is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, so everyone thinks his paranoia is part of his disease. Mace barricades himself inside his home with lots of high security devices to try and escape a sticky end.

Although somewhat of a far fetched story at times, the film gives Stewart a chance to show his talents (and physique) in a leading 'tough guy' role who has to deal with the slow demise of his mind if not his body.
There are some nice moments between Stewart's character of Mace, and Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride) as his carer. This provides the main focus of the developing plot. Watch out for Stewart's guitar playing, and the dance sequence!

The film was premiered in the UK in late 1998 on Channel 5 as a TV movie and in the US on Showtime on 24th January 1999.
 

Photos
Mace meets his carer
Mace and Andie

With the TNG crew standing alone now, the story arc was with the superbly conceived enemy of the federation - the 'Borg'. 

Drawing cleverly on images of Picard's assimilation by the Borg six years previously, the captain has to somehow stop the Borg as they travel back in time to assimilate earth in 2063.

The Borg intend to destroy the first ship to use warp drive and so prevent the very existence of the Federation. 

Picard's desire for revenge upon the Borg nearly overwhelms his rational thoughts, and it is left to the character of 'Lily' (played superbly by Alfre Woodard), a scientist from the 21st century to bring the captain to his senses. 

The special effects are top-notch as is the acting from Stewart and a strong supporting cast of Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell and Alice Krige. 

Jonathan Frakes (Riker) does an excellent job of directing his first big screen film, and with Trek box office records being broken, the future of the TNG crew films was assured.

The Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts film cast him as Dr. Jonas an ex-CIA man who you were never quite sure whether to trust or not.

The initial meeting between Gibson's character Jerry Fletcher and Stewart's Jonas is reminiscent of the Hoffman/Olivier scene in 'Marathon Man' but leave any comparisons you may have there, this is not simply a brit playing a bad guy in an American movie.

Directed by Richard 'Lethal Weapon' Donner the film is a dark, fast paced thriller that gives Stewart an opportunity to create a complex shady character in a big budget film.

Filmed in Vancouver, the film was something of a departure from the more intense roles of the past for Patrick, and it is clearly apparent he has a lot of fun with the role of the villain here.

The film had a limited US opening and is now available as a video rental in the UK and US.

The film was shot in South Lincolnshire and centres on the story of Patrick's character 'Dad', a country and western fan who runs a tulip farm in the fens, but who also has a lucrative sideline in criminal activities. 

He is helped by his son Sav who recruits a couple of old pals Vic and Bob to help with the illegal sideline.

These two find out about Dad's pile of money hidden in the woods and plan on sealing for themselves after forcing Sav to show them exactly where it's buried. 

Things don't go quite as planned and the film flashes back in stages to recount how all the characters end up in a face off in the basement of a run down farmhouse.

The film is quite violent and dark, not what you'd expect to see Stewart in, but then that's the point. His role as Dad is another departure from type, a seemingly innocuous 'yokel' with a penchant for line dancing, who hides something far murkier and threatening below the surface.

The film is patchy and at times a little slow, but Stewart holds the whole thing together and is recommended especially if you've never seen Stewart line dance before!

The film was given a limited opening in the UK in June and is now available to rent in the US and the UK.

The film is different to the highly successful First Contact, with a much lighter and humorous tone, but it also returns to the true vision Gene Roddenberry had in creating the Star Trek universe.

The story revolves around the moral and ethical dilemma Picard is faced with as Starfleet sanction the relocation of a group of 600 Ba'ku in order to save the lives of millions of others by gaining access to the unique regenerative atmosphere on the Ba'ku planet.

Picard disobeys the Starfleet Admiral's (Anthony Zerbe) orders and faces a court marshal in order to defend the planet and it's people from the Son'a, a race who have cut a deal with the Federation in order to use the planet's effects to maintain their species and who are willing to sacrifice the Enterprise and it's crew to get it!

The entire TNG cast are allowed a much greater story line in this film, and it's here that the great camaraderie amongst the crew that TNG fans came to love, shines through due to the cast's great friendships.

Those expecting a similar film to First Contact may be disappointed, but the vast majority of viewers, both Trek fans and those less familiar to the series will enjoy the humour and morals of the story, and come away with a definite 'feel good' factor.

The film is based on the Old Testament story of Moses and Ramses who grow up as brothers in ancient Egypt to their father Pharaoh Seti, voiced by Stewart.

Ramses succeeds his father as Pharaoh whilst Moses, chosen by God, leads the Israelites to the Promised Land.

Amongst the other well known names providing voices are Ralph Fiennes, Val Kilmer and Helen Mirren.

Professor who? If you'd never read the comics or seen the animated series who the heck are these characters? Here goes...

In a not too distant future, a number of individuals are born with a genetic mutation that gives them an extraordinary power of some kind. This power does not become apparent until adolescence . Society is aware of these 'mutants' and wants to know who they are and what they can do. Senator Kelly is trying to pass a bill through US congress to 'label' them as mutants.

Professor Charles Xavier - the world's most powerful telepath - runs a school for gifted children (mutants) where he teaches them to harness their powers and to live in peace with humanity. Amongst his students and teachers are Dr Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who has telepathic abilities, Cyclops (James Marsden) has laser-blasting vision, and Storm (Halle Berry) can manipulate weather systems. These are the X-Men.

Former friend and partner Erik Lensherr (Ian McKellen), known as Magneto, has the ability to manipulate metal objects. He believes humanity want to destroy all mutants and sets about to even things out with the help of Toad (Ray Park) who leaps about and has a whip-like long tongue, Sabertooth (Tyler Mane) possesses super strength, and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a blue skinned changeling. These are his brotherhood of mutants.

With me so far?

The story begins by introducing the teenage character of Rogue (Anna Paquin) who discovers to her horror that when she kisses her boyfriend she nearly kills him by draining his life-force from him! Leaving home she wanders off to the wilds of Canada where she meets another mutant 'Logan' (Hugh Jackman) - he has 3 steel knives which shoot out from his knuckles on each hand.

Foiling Magneto's apparent plan to capture Logan, the X-Men take Rogue and Logan to Professor Xavier's mansion where they learn of the other mutants and their abilities. 

Meanwhile the Senator (Bruce Davidson) is turned into a mutant himself by Magneto as an experiment, but escapes and finds his way to Professor Xavier's mansion. Xavier is able to read his mind to see what Magneto is planning....
 

Well not only were the doubters proved wrong about Bryan Singer as an appropriate director - he melds the superhero world with serious overtones of  prejudice and introduces the characters in a way that makes them very believable - but the whole cast and crew should be congratulated on a highly enjoyable blockbuster that heralds the start of what will no doubt turn out to be a highly profitable franchise for some years to come. 

The only criticism is that there aren't enough scenes between Xavier and Magneto. As the main protagonists you'd expect more. When Stewart and McKellen are together the whole film takes on a different level...let's hope the producers take note for the next one.