Patrick Stewart, the British stage and screen actor whose work as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films made him known around the world, died at his home in Los Angeles on 28 October. He was 86. He died following a battle with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
His path to those parts began in Mirfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where he was born on 13 July 1940.
At 15, he left school and worked at The Dewsbury Reporter, a local newspaper, while performing in local theatre. By 18, he had won a scholarship to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Stewart made his professional stage debut in 1959 at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac. In 2009, he wrote that acting had offered him refuge and escape from difficulties at home.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, at 26, and appeared in more than 60 productions. His first Olivier Award came in 1979 for Peter Brook's production of Antony and Cleopatra. Stewart went on to win three Olivier Awards and received a Tony Award nomination for his stage work.
Then came a casting decision that Star Trek's creator initially resisted. In 1987, Stewart was chosen to play Picard, captain of the USS Enterprise, despite Gene Roddenberry's response: 'What the hell? I don't want a bald, middle-aged Englishman.'
Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994, producing 178 episodes and turning Stewart into an international star. He later returned as Picard in four films: Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk opposite Stewart in Generations, called him 'a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor.' Shatner added: 'From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did.'
George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, wrote: '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.'
Stewart's second defining screen role arrived in 2000, when he originated Charles Xavier, or Professor X, in X-Men. He played Xavier in seven further films: X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Logan (2017) and Avengers: Doomsday (2026).
He said he admired the morality, kindness, sensitivity and compassion of both Picard and Xavier: 'Both of them... I immensely admired for their morality, for their kindness, for their sensitivity, for their compassion.'
Queen Elizabeth II knighted Stewart in 2010 for his services to drama. In 2023, he became a New York Times best-selling author with the publication of his memoir, Making It So.
He returned once more to Picard in 2020 for Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard. The series ran for three seasons and ended with its third and final season in April 2023.
Akiva Goldsman, the series' co-creator and co-showrunner, said: 'Patrick was not only a true lion of the profession, he was the rarest of alchemists, one who could literally turn the written word into flesh and blood.'
Ian McKellen, Stewart's fellow actor, once described the reach of his friend's work this way: 'Going around with Patrick is like going around with the pope. Not that people genuflect, but he's touched so many lives.'
Stewart's death prompted tributes from colleagues across Star Trek and X-Men.
Comments (0)