Sir Patrick Stewart, Star Trek’s Captain Picard and X-Men’s Professor X, dies at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart, the English stage actor who became a global television and film star as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Professor Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” films, has died at the age of 86.

He died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, 28 October, according to a statement shared by his spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak and posted on his Facebook and Instagram pages on Thursday, as reported by CNN and NPR.

The family’s statement

“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” the statement read, as published by Playbill. “He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all.”

The statement described him as “a son of Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire” who “travelled from the Royal Shakespeare Company to an equally acclaimed career spanning six decades on Broadway, the silver screen, and television,” and said he “will be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to every role—in his art and life.”

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that memorial contributions go to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources, Playbill and Variety reported.

From Yorkshire to the Royal Shakespeare Company

Stewart was born in 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, and left school at 15 to work as a newspaper reporter before choosing acting, according to CNN and Variety. He made his first professional stage appearance in 1959 with the Bristol Old Vic Company and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, remaining with it until 1982 and performing in more than 60 productions, Playbill reported. His Broadway debut came in 1970 in Peter Brook’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

He was lecturing on Shakespeare at UCLA when his name came up for the lead in a new “Star Trek” series, NPR reported. He recalled Ian McKellen advising him against it: “Don’t do this, Patrick. You’re a very good stage actor. That’s where you ought to be. Don’t do it.”

Picard, Xavier and the stage

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994, and Stewart returned to the role in “Star Trek: Picard,” which ran from 2020 to 2023. “So much of what I believed and felt went into that show,” he said in 2022, according to CNN.

From 2000 he played Professor Xavier in the “X-Men” films opposite McKellen as Magneto, and the two became close friends. McKellen officiated at Stewart’s 2013 marriage to singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, CNN reported.

Stewart kept returning to the theatre, including a one-man “A Christmas Carol” that he adapted himself, “Macbeth” on Broadway, for which he received his only Tony nomination, and a final Broadway run with McKellen in “Waiting for Godot” and “No Man’s Land,” according to Playbill. He won three Olivier Awards and was nominated for four Emmys, Variety reported.

In 2010 Queen Elizabeth II granted him a knighthood for services to drama, an honour he described as “the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me,” CNN reported.

Tributes

William Shatner, who led the original “Star Trek” series, described Stewart as “a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor” who “brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did,” CNN reported. Marvel remembered him as a “singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman.”

His final work

Stewart continued working into his 80s. He recently voiced Sir Ritchfield in the animated “Sheep Detectives,” according to Variety, and will appear for the last time as Professor Xavier in “Avengers: Doomsday,” due this December, alongside McKellen.

He is survived by his wife, Sunny Ozell, his daughter Sophie and his son, actor Daniel Stewart, Variety reported.

Header photo: Chris Oxlade and Patrick Stewart by Andrew Skudder from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped; this crop is released under the same licence.

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