Caption: Sir Patrick Stewart. Photo via AFP
In Brief
- Passing of an icon: British actor Sir Patrick Stewart has died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 86 following a brief battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
- Pop culture legend: A classically trained Shakespearean actor, Stewart achieved global superstardom as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the ‘Star Trek’ franchise and Professor Charles Xavier in the ‘X-Men’ films.
- Decorated career: Alongside four Emmy nominations and a Grammy Award, he remained devoted to the stage, winning two Laurence Olivier Awards.
- Final role: Stewart will make his final posthumous big-screen appearance as Professor Xavier in “Avengers: Doomsday,” scheduled for release this December.
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) – Sir Patrick Stewart, the British Shakespearean actor who became a Hollywood megastar through his roles in the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.
His death on Wednesday came after a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to an official statement posted on his social media accounts.
“His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre,” the statement said.
The actor, who hailed from the northern English county of Yorkshire, trod the boards in Britain with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and the National Theatre in London, and worked extensively on British television.
However, he rocketed into the pop culture history books as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as Professor Charles Xavier in multiple “X-Men” and related Marvel films.
“He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction’s most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise,” the official statement added.
Aboard the Enterprise
Stewart was 47 when he was cast as Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the first live-action television spin-off of the trailblazing sci-fi series from the late 1960s.
He effectively filled the boots of William Shatner’s Captain Kirk from the original show, and the role became Stewart’s path to fame and fortune.
Picard became known for several catchphrases, including “Make it so!”—which inspired the title of Stewart’s 2023 memoir, “Making It So.”
Yet his move to America in 1987 was initially greeted with disdain by the Los Angeles Times, which wrote him off as an “unknown British Shakespearean actor.”
Stewart later admitted he was offended by suggestions that he was “slumming it” by moving into US television.
He once called his Shakespearean bona fides “nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair of the Enterprise.”
‘Gravitas and profundity’
Stewart found further acclaim on the big screen in the “X-Men” film series, debuting in 2000 as Professor Charles Xavier, the founder and mentor of the mutant superhero team.
“For more than 25 years, he brought a gravitas and profundity to the role, earning fans across the globe and helping to transform superhero storytelling forever,” Marvel Studios said on Thursday.
Long-time co-star Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine, remembered Stewart as both “one of the greats of stage and screen” and “a tremendous friend and man.”
From 2020 to 2023, Stewart was tempted back to the “Star Trek” franchise, starring in the “Star Trek: Picard” television series.
He was nominated for four Emmy Awards during his career, though he never took one home.
Even as he found immense success in Hollywood, Stewart’s love of theatre—and the Bard in particular—never left him. Between filming commitments, he regularly returned to his roots on the stage, winning two Olivier Awards.
“Having spent so much of my life with Shakespeare’s world, passions and ideas in my head and in my mouth, he feels like a friend, someone who just went out of the room to get another bottle of wine,” he once said.
The decorated performer also won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for his narration of “Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf.”
Troubled start
Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in the small West Yorkshire town of Mirfield, the third of three brothers in a working-class family.
He grew up, it emerged much later, in the shadow of domestic violence. His father, returning from the Second War World and believed to be suffering from PTSD, would often beat Stewart’s mother. Stewart would later become a prominent patron and advocate for the charity Refuge, which specialises in supporting victims of domestic abuse.
The actor left school at 15, though not without the encouragement of his English teacher, Cecil Dormand, who introduced him to Shakespeare and gave him his first role in a play alongside adults.
He began studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1957, making his professional acting debut two years later.
Prematurely balding, Stewart missed out on many young romantic leads, but he quickly slotted into theatre life, joining the RSC in 1966 and remaining with the company until 1982.
Any misgivings Stewart had about taking on the role of Picard in “Star Trek” were initially mollified by the belief that the show would be a one-season failure. He was wrong.
“It changed my life,” he said.
Stewart is set to make his final posthumous on-screen film appearance as Professor Xavier in “Avengers: Doomsday,” scheduled for release in December.
Knighted in 2010, Stewart was married three times: first to Sheila Falconer, with whom he had two children, including fellow actor Daniel Stewart; briefly to “Star Trek” producer Wendy Neuss; and most recently to American singer Sunny Ozell, 38 years his junior.
