Stewart

Lieutenant Maryann Stewart
Actor	Dianne Stanley, "an 80-year old woman"
Gender	Female
Race	Human
Born	1939
Died	Unknown
Continuity	Movies
Appearances
First Appearance: Planet of the Apes Last Appearance: Planet of the Apes

"Did I tell you about Stewart? Now there was a lovely girl. The most precious cargo we brought along. She was... to be the new "Eve"."

--George Taylor

Maryann Stewart was a female astronaut who accompanied Colonel George Taylor, Lieutenant John Landon and Lieutenant Thomas Dodge on their fate-filled expedition through space. Several weeks into their mission, the crew placed themselves into a state of suspended animation, in preparation of their long voyage. While they slept, their space vessel, the Icarus, passed through a Hasslein Curve in space, and was propelled forward through time several thousands of years. During their journey, Stewarts' stasis pod malfunctioned and an air leak caused her to die in her sleep. When Taylor and the others finally awakened some time in the mid 40th century, they found the remains of Stewart's dessicated body in the pod. The ship crashed down onto Earth in the middle of a salt lake. Taylor, Dodge and Landon were forced to evacuate the ship, and Stewart's body sank to the bottom of the lake along with the rest of the ship.

[edit] Notes

• Only three astronauts are featured in Pierre Boulle's original novel, La Planète des singes. A fourth, male astronaut was added by Rod Serling in his 1964 script proposal. His name was 'Blake' and like Stewart he was to die before the start of the movie. Serling's script treatment for an 'Apes' TV show followed on somewhat from this plot, with two astronauts sent to rescue Taylor's crew which included a 23-year-old man (possibly called 'Bengsten') who is found to have died from a broken neck.^[1]

• It was unknown whether Dr. Milo discovered Stewart's corpse when he found Taylor's ship, or if it washed out of the open hatch.

• Stewart's rank of 'Lieutenant' was spoken on-screen.

• A fan-produced reproduction of the Presidential Commission's Briefing Dossier gave Stewart the name 'Dr. Diane Stewart'.^[2]

• The 'ANSA Public Service Announcement' bonus feature from the Blu-Ray Planet of the Apes Box-Set (released November 2008) included this biography: "Lieutenant Maryann Stewart, 33, is both a career astronaut and a respected biological researcher. A veteran of ANSA's Apollo and Juno space programs, she brings experience, curiosity, and old-fashioned guts to the team."

[edit] Trivia

• For years, rumors abounded that actress Natalie Trundy (the future wife of producer Arthur P. Jacobs) played the part of Stewart. Although Trundy has played several different characters in the POTA mythos, the role of Stewart was actually played by an extra named Diane Stanley^[3][4]

• According to Charlton Heston's published diaries, "included in the cast (as the long dead Stewart) was an eighty-year old woman who played what must surely be the only role in the history of drama as an octogenarian lady astronaut".

• There was also a dummy used for the final shot when water starts flooding into the ship. As the arms of this dummy weren't crossed - as they had been by the two actresses - this produced a continuity error.

[edit] Appearances

• Planet of the Apes
• Planet of the Apes Magazine: Planet of the Apes (issue #1)
• Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Planet of the Apes (issue #1)

[edit] References