A Yorkshire Childhood Shaped His Future

Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1940, Stewart grew up in a working-class family with his mother, Gladys, and two older brothers.

His childhood was marked by poverty and domestic violence at the hands of his father, but acting eventually gave him an escape.

At the age of 12, an English teacher introduced him to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, sparking a lifelong passion for the stage.

Stewart later described acting as a refuge from his difficult home life.