40 Celebrities We Need To Keep Safe From 2016

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 09: Actor Sir Patrick Stewart attends the BAFTA Los Angeles Awards Season Tea at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 9, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for The GREAT Britain Campaign)

 3. Patrick Stewart

Sir Patrick! Hi, how are you? Are you drinking enough water? Looking both ways before you cross the street? Hey, I’m just going to check the seat belts in your car really quickly, okay?

Listen, if I could hire a 24/7 guard for Patrick Stewart without seeming like a total creep, I would. It’s not just that he’s done amazing work for Star Trek as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, or that he’s the living embodiment of Professor X. This man is an acting dynamo. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for sixteen years, building up a considerable resume as an incredibly talented and respected actor. He’s played high and low, from Hamlet to American Dad. He’s best buds with Sir Ian McKellen. Based solely on their be-hatted New York adventure together, both deserve to stay alive as long as possible just so we can experience their friendship secondhand.

Don’t forget his charity work, either. Stewart is an outspoken advocate for ending domestic violence, having worked with Amnesty International as well as Refuge, a UK charity for abused women. He’s also a supporter of the charity Combat Stress, after learning about his father’s PTSD from battling in World War II.

And, hey, let’s be honest: Patrick Stewart is looking pretty fine, especially considering he’s 76 years old. I can only hope to look half as good when I lurch into my seventh decade. In 1992, the readers of TV Guide even chose him as the most “bodacious” man on TV (never was a more nineties sentence written). Cindy Crawford was his female counterpart in the poll; the ever-British Stewart had no idea who she was. If that preciousness alone doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

-Sarah C.

Next: Aretha Franklin