- Actor Patrick Stewart has died at 86.
- His rep announced he died after “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia.
- Stewart was known for his stage work and roles in “Star Trek” and “X-Men.”
A post on his official Instagram page announced Steward died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, “in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.”
“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 post continued. “We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.”
In lieu of flowers, the family requested that memorial contributions be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.
Born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, Stewart became interested in acting at age 12, when an English teacher introduced him to William Shakespeare’s writing.
Although Stewart initially dropped out of school at age 15 to work as a journalist, he quickly abandoned that pursuit and began performing in theater productions. He graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1959.
At 26, Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he spent much of the 1960s establishing himself as a celebrated stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1971 in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and would go on to perform in over a dozen stage adaptations of classics like “The Tempest” and “A Christmas Carol.”
“I knew from before drama school that Shakespeare was my great love,” Stewart told Playbill in 2010.
Alongside his stage work, the actor also launched his TV career in the ’60s — but his big Hollywood break came two decades later, when he landed the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
The sci-fi show lasted for seven seasons between 1987 and 1994. Stewart also reprised his role for an episode of the show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” as well as several more movies, including “Star Trek Generations” (1994), “Star Trek: First Contact” (1996), “Star Trek: Insurrection” (1998), and “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002). He also did voice work for “Star Trek” video games.
Despite playing onscreen rivals, the two actors became close friends in real life, with McKellen officiating Stewart’s 2013 wedding to singer Sunny Ozell in Reno, Nevada.
“We became good friends as a result of shooting multimillion-dollar adventure movies,” Stewart later told NPR of McKellen.
Stewart’s most recent roles included voice work for the animated series “American Dad!” and the 2026 movie “The Sheep Detectives.” He reprised his role as Jean-Luc Picard from 2020 to 2023 in the series “Star Trek: Picard,” and returned as Charles Xavier in 2017’s “Logan,” 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and the forthcoming Marvel film “Avengers: Doomsday,” out this December. The blockbuster will mark his final onscreen appearance.
Despite starring in multimillion-dollar movie franchises, Stewart returned to the stage throughout his career. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Macbeth in the 2008 Broadway revival and starred opposite McKellen in two-play repertory productions of “Waiting for Godot” and “No Man’s Land” in 2013 and 2014.
“I have often heard actors say, ‘I can’t afford to go back to the theater,'” Stewart told NPR. “I look at a lot of the work that I do in film and television — which I love — but, at the same time, it underwrites and supports the other work that I want to do.”
Stewart did not see his onscreen work and his stage work as at odds; on the contrary, he described his two most recognizable roles, Picard and Xavier, as “entirely complementary” to his theater career.
“The techniques are different, and the rhythm and pattern of the work are different, but the approach to how I act doesn’t change — the fundamental thing is to pursue the truth,” he told Playbill.
Stewart is survived by Ozell and his two children, Daniel Stewart and Sophia Stewart, from his first marriage to Sheila Falconer.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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