PATRICK Stewart, the classically trained actor who added Shakespearean gravitas to the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises, has died. He was 86.
Stewart died on Wednesday in Los Angeles, following “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, spokesman Kelly Bush Novak said. Stewart’s diagnoses had not been previously disclosed.
“We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today,” Hugh Jackman, a frequent Stewart co-star in the “X-Men” universe, said on social media. “And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days.”
While best known as Professor Charles Xavier and Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the “X-Men” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” series and films, respectively, Stewart spent more of his career onstage than in the X-Mansion or on the USS Enterprise.
Besides playing everyone from Claudius to Macbeth, he often performed a one-man rendition of “A Christmas Carol” and did West End and Broadway runs of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in repertory with buddy Ian McKellen.
“He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love,” McKellen posted on social media.
He won three Olivier Awards, including one for playing Claudius in “Hamlet” opposite David Tennant. And he had a Grammy — in 1996 for best spoken word album for his recording of “Peter and the Wolf.”
He achieved some of the best reviews of his career when he finally tackled Macbeth for the first time. The production, under the direction of Rupert Goold, debuted in May 2007 at England’s Chichester Festival Theater, switched to London’s West End and then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music before transferring to Broadway in 2008.
Stewart’s performance earned him his sole Tony Award nomination. The Times of London said his Macbeth was “an enthralling creation of frailty, appetite, egotism and grim humor.” The Daily Telegraph said he had turned in “a truly great performance,” and The New York Times said it was “a must-see.”
“Nearly 50 years I’ve waited,” Stewart told the Associated Press in 2008. “I learned it when I was 14. I memorized all the soliloquies just because I thought they were great. And they stuck, so I didn’t have to learn those bits of the play, which is a blessing, because learning lines has now become the one curse of this job.”
Raised in Mirfield in Yorkshire, a working-class corner of northern England, the future 24th-century commander of a starship grew up without a bathroom in his house.
Stewart joined an amateur drama group at 12 and memorized Shakespeare for fun as a teen. He won a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theater School, launching a career as a character actor.
He had been bald since he was 19 — alopecia runs in his family.
His father, a former regimental sergeant major in the British Army, was prone to outbursts of “repeated violence against my mother,” as Stewart wrote in a newspaper piece. “Violence is always a choice a man makes, and he alone is responsible for it.”
In his memoir, “Making It So,” Stewart wrote about how he and his older brother Trevor braced for the nights when their dad came home drunk and angry, and attacked their mother. “Sometimes it was with an open hand, other times a closed fist. Always he aimed for her head.”
The son would later become a patron for Refuge, an organization that provides shelter for domestic abuse victims.
“The stage would prove to be a safe space, a refuge from real life in which I could inhabit another person, living in another place and time,” he would write.
Stewart was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare Company and stayed for 14 years, playing everything from Mark Antony to Henry IV to Shylock to Oberon. “People who were not in the company would say to me, ‘Give it a break. Why don’t you go somewhere else?’ And I would say, ‘To do what?’” he told the Associated Press (AP). “Telly?”
Stewart eventually left to look for more varied work, including the 1981 film “Excalibur.” He had just done a production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1987 when an interesting offer came along. “I found myself in Hollywood shooting a syndicated science fiction series, which I was assured would fail.”
It didn’t, of course. Thanks to Stewart’s rich baritone and noble bearing, the “Star Trek” franchise ran for seven years, 178 episodes and produced four feature films. He was known for his slogan “Make it so.”
His adoration for Shakespeare would serve him well when he began to play Jean-Luc Picard, a 24th-century starship commander.
“There is a formality to the way they speak and comport themselves that remind me of numerous Shakespearean situations I’d been in onstage. I should play Jean Luc, I realized, as if he were a character in ‘Henry IV,’ which is about brave men,” Stewart wrote in his memoir.
Despite the Borg and Klingons, Stewart still managed to make room for blank verse. He established the Paramount Shakespeare Company, a workshop on Saturday and Sunday mornings for any actor interested. (Stewart revisited Picard in the TV series “Star Trek: Picard.”)
Stewart died just a few days after Walter Koenig, another “Star Trek” icon, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov on the original NBC TV show from 1966 to 1969.
“What a heartbreaking week it has been,” William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the franchise, wrote on Instagram. “Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did.”
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” gave him higher visibility, which led to more work, including roles in the films “Conspiracy Theory,” “L.A. Story” and on Broadway, where he starred in “The Tempest,” “The Caretaker” and David Mamet’s “A Life in the Theater.” He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2010. Stewart was also an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee.
In July 1992, he and supermodel Cindy Crawford were on the cover of TV Guide’s “Top Turn-Ons,” based on a readers’ poll. In his memoir, Stewart wrote: “Absurd.”
Stewart was first introduced as the character Xavier in the original X-Men trilogy, appearing in three films from 2000 to 2006. He later returned in four more movies before Professor X’s death in 2017’s “Logan.” He reappeared in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in 2022 and reprised the role in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”
He also showed off his comedic chops aboard Seth MacFarlane’s Starz show “Blunt Talk” for two series and voiced Poop in “The Emoji Movie.” He made appearances on “Robot Chicken,” “Futurama” and “The Simpsons” (in one episode, Homer loses his hair, and Stewart tells him it’s great to be bald.) One of his last credits was with Jackman in 2026’s “The Sheep Detectives.”
Later in life, he proved internet-savvy and found new fans with his humor, posing in a bath in a lobster suit and triggering memes when he posted a photo of him picking apples. When he was mistakenly outed as gay by a British newspaper, he said it was a nice change. “At least I didn’t wake up to the internet telling me I was dead again,” he tweeted.
He married Brooklyn songwriter and singer Sunny Ozell in 2013, with the actor’s “X-Men” co-star McKellen officiating. Stewart later tweeted a photo of the newlyweds in a ball pit.
He is also survived by two children, a daughter, Sophia, and a son, Daniel.
The death of Patrick Stewart led to a slew of tributes, including from acting colleagues.
British actor Ian McKellen paid tribute to his longtime friend Patrick Stewart, remembering their five-decade friendship and the bond they strengthened while playing rivals in the X-Men film franchise.
In a tribute dated Oct. 29, McKellen recalled first meeting Stewart as ambitious young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon about half a century ago, although they were not performing in the same productions.
“My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London,” McKellen wrote, recalling their encounter when Stewart told him about an offer to take over a leading role in Star Trek.
McKellen said he had warned his friend about the possible consequences for his British stage career.
“But Patrick, think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk — getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?” he recalled telling Stewart.
Stewart nevertheless accepted the role of Captain Picard.
Their friendship grew closer when they reunited for the first X-Men film, released in 2000. McKellen portrayed his ideological adversary, Erik Lehnsherr, better known as Magneto.
“What a heartbreaking week it has been,” another Star Trek alum, William Shatner, said. “Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work.”
“We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today. And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days.” Hugh Jackman, Stewart’s “X-Men” co-star, posted on Instagram.
George Takei, Stewart’s fellow “Star Trek” star, said on social media: “Fans across the world mourn the passing of a true and irreplaceable legend. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart took the starship Enterprise to places it had never gone before. He inspired a whole next generation of star-gazers who looked longingly ahead to a brighter future for all humanity. Our hearts are heavy, indeed. Rest in the heavens, Captain.”
