10 Behind The Scenes Reasons For Star Trek Characters' Quirks

Captain Picard was based on Horatio Hornblower, one of Gene Roddenberry's favourite literary characters. He was swashbuckling - though not nearly as much as James T. Kirk was designed to be - and he was virile, young, and definitely French.

At 47 years old, Patrick Stewart was antithetical to Roddenberry's idea of the character. His first issue with the actor was his baldness and, after their initial meeting, Roddenberry bid him goodbye, closed the door, and announced to Robert Justman - 'I won't have him.'

It took the combined team of Justman and Rick Berman to convince Roddenberry to take a chance on him. He was eventually invited back, with the stipulation that he wear a wig for the audition, and it went well enough for him to land the part. Mercifully though, Roddenberry eventually changed his mind about toupee, stating to a reporter that, by the 24th Century, no one will care

This left one other issue - Picard was French, and Stewart was clearly not. Thus there exists a tape in the bowels of Paramount of Stewart attempting a line reading with a French accent. At this point, Roddenberry threw up his hands and told him to simply do it in his normal voice, switching the character from a Frenchman with a full head of hair, to a French-born Englishman who was bald as an egg.

Thus, an iconic character was born.