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

Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86. His spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, said the British actor died on Wednesday, October 28, at his home in Los Angeles, and the news was announced on his social media accounts on Thursday. The statement described a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia — two diagnoses that had never previously been made public.

Stewart’s name belongs to two worlds that shaped the childhoods and youth of millions. In 1987, at the age of 47, he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” a series that ran for seven seasons. Picard was a thoughtful, measured commander, and his order “Make it so” became the line fans quoted most. Stewart carried the role through four feature films and returned to it in “Star Trek: Picard” from 2020 to 2023. From 2000 he played Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, appearing in seven of them, with a final posthumous appearance as Xavier still to come in “Avengers: Doomsday.”

From Yorkshire to Hollywood

Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, a mill town in Yorkshire, into a working-class family. His mother was a weaver and textile worker; his father had been a regimental sergeant major in the British Army. After leaving school he worked briefly as a junior reporter on a local newspaper, then gave himself to the theatre. In 1966 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and stayed for sixteen years, becoming one of its core members. In 2010, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his services to drama.

A flood of tributes

The tributes came within hours. William Shatner called him “a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor.” Sir Ian McKellen, his close friend and his Magneto opposite Xavier, said Stewart “told you what he thought and felt” and wore his heart on his sleeve. Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine beside him for nearly two decades, wrote: “We lost one of the greats of stage and screen.” The Royal Shakespeare Company called him “a colossus of both stage and screen,” and Marvel Studios described him as “a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman.” In Los Angeles, fans gathered at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Stewart is survived by his third wife, singer Sunny Ozell, and by Daniel and Sophie, his two children from his first marriage. His family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.