Sir Patrick Stewart believes his ‘Coronation Street’ cameo helped to convince his parents he could make money from acting.
The 80-year-old movie legend – best known for playing Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard – made his TV debut as a fireman on the cobbles in 1967, and he is still grateful for the appearance.
He said: "More than anything else it made my parents very happy.
"At last they saw that I might possibly have a career being an actor."
Shortly before he landed a ‘Corrie’ cameo, Patrick had been offered a three-year deal with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was free for a short cobbles stint before he set about treading the boards.
Speaking on ‘The One Show’, he added: "It was the end of my first season with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the end of that season, expecting that I would be let go, [RSC founder] Peter Hall offered me a three-year contract.
"I was so overwhelmed and I accepted, of course, but they had nothing for me to do so I was free and up came this little appearance in ‘Coronation Street’.
"Well, I mean does it get any more significant than that? I think not."
In ‘Corrie’, Patrick’s fire officer character was called to 15 Mawdsley Street to put out a blaze caused by Dennis Tanner (Philip Lowrie) when he was decorating the house for Len Fairclough (Peter Adamson).
As well as Patrick, other big film stars to have appeared in Weatherfield include Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Ben Kingsley.