Before They Were Stars: Patrick Stewart in “Lifeforce”

Since today’s Shouts From the Back Row podcast will be covering the phenomenon we know as Star Trek, this will be a Star Trek-themed week on “Before They Were Stars”. I shall be showcasing early roles for the cast members of various incarnations of Star Trek, and also feature a few well-known celebrities who appeared in a Star Trek project before they found fame. I’ve already done “Before They Were Stars” features on Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, Jonathan Frakes and William Shatner (twice!), but I think it’s about time for me to show Jean-Luc Picard like you’ve never seen him before: being assimilated by a nude space vampiress! In 1985, Patrick Stewart took a supporting role in Tobe Hooper’s infamously goofy sci-fi/horror outing, Lifeforce, which told the story of nude alien vampires being brought to Earth and sucking the life force out of unfortunate victims. The lead vampiress winds up entering the body of Stewart’s character, turning him into quite the scream queen. Oh yeah, and it all leads to Stewart (or rather a fake latex version of his head) exploding into a fountain of blood!