Muck Raking: R.J. Stewart
Archaeology's never been this much fun! Unearthing the secrets of the cast and crew.
R.J. Stewart, Co-Executive Producer of Xena: Warrior Princess talks collecting, collapsing and canines.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 02
Birth name: Richard Joel Stewart. [But you prefer just ‘R.J.’?’] You know, I did at one point in my life, I think now you can call me just about anything. You call me Rick, Dick, or Richard, and I’m here. I think when I picked up the name, R.J. in college, it was different - I’d been Dick Stewart or Richard Stewart all my life, so it was different to be R.J. But now I’m bored of it.
Favourite word: I’d say ‘love’. [Aw!]
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York.
Current residence: Los Angeles, California.
Croutons or bacon bits? Bacon bits, for sure.
Favourite salad dressing: Thousand Island.
Have you ever been skinny dipping? Oh, sure.
Do you make fun of people? I’m afraid I’m one of the needlers. I’m a bully about it - I pick on people who can’t fight back… No, I’m kidding!
Have you ever been convicted of a crime? Does drunk and disorderly count?
Have you any pets? I’ve got a beautiful dog… It’s like a lurcher. It’s a breed called an American Stag Hound, it’s very rare - I would say so rare that it’s not even a breed any more. They tried to make a breed out of them, but the attempt failed, so now they’re just kind of lurcher mutts.
Favourite music: Consistently, I’ve loved Thelonius Monk for years.
Hobbies: I collect historical manuscripts. I’ve got a manuscript by Tolstoy, of a story he wrote in his later years, one of his philosophical stories about inactivity, he mentions Taoism and Lao Tzu. It’s in French, so I can’t make heads nor tails of it! That’s one of my favourites. I have a terrific letter by the American statesman Alexander Hamilton, talking about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the election of 1800. Basically my area of collecting is European letters and American history.
Favourite food: To be honest, I’d have to say a hamburger, which makes me incredibly dull, I know. And also incredibly fat!
Favourite non-alcoholic drink: Water.
Adidas, Nike, Reebok or other? You know, I can actually look down… [Sound of craning neck] Nike.
Favourite subject at school: History, history, history!
Most humiliating moment: I was walking into the high school auditorium, and everybody - every girl I had a crush on, every guy who I wanted to impress - was sitting watching me open the door. I walked in, my foot hit a patty of butter; I slipped up and landed flat on my back. The air was shot out of me, so I couldn’t move, and virtually the entire student body screamed with laughter for about five minutes. And I couldn’t get up, I was like a turtle. I remember going home after that, very calm and detached, and saying to my mother, ‘We have to move.’ But it’s all a matter of perspective. Today that wouldn’t make me blink. Actually, it would make me go to the hospital.