Beloved actor Sir Patrick Stewart dies aged 86
By Iain McLean
Sir Patrick at the 2023 EE Bafta’s Champagne Reception || image by Carlo Paloni via Getty Images
British movie and theatre legend, Sir Patrick Stewart, passed away following a brief battle with Alzheimer's and Lewy Body Dementia, his family announced yesterday, October 28.
The news first broke on Instagram, where a statement was released on his personal page describing that Sir Patrick died in the “loving care of his beloved wife Sunny” at their Los Angeles home on Wednesday.
Stewart got his start with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, making his Broadway debut in a 1971 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
From Broadway, he made his first steps into Hollywood, starring in Hedda (1975), Excalibur (1981), David Lynch’s Dune (1984), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1984).
Everything changed for Stewart when he was cast in the massively successful Star Trek as Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the USS Enterprise, and his catchphrase “make it so” was born.
However, most young people today may know him for his iconic performance as Charles Xavier, the telepathic leader of the X-Men, in Fox’s original trilogy, which will also, perhaps fittingly, be his last performance on the silver screen, as he’s set to reprise his role as the Professor this December in the highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday.
For his decades-long service to drama, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him at Buckingham Palace in 2010.
Sir Patrick poses with his award after he was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II - Photo by Dominic Lipinski via WPA Pool/Getty Images
When the news of Sir Patrick’s death broke on Thursday night, the tributes poured in.
William Shatner, who had the reins of the USS Enterprise before Stewart, said Sir Patrick brought “intelligence, grace and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did.”
George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu during Shatner's time on Star Trek, said: “He inspired a whole next generation of star-gazers who looked longingly ahead to a brighter future for all humanity.”
Hugh Jackman, who starred alongside Sir Patrick in both the original X-Men trilogy and Logan, said he was “a tremendous friend and man; we lost one of the greats of stage and screen today.”
Scottish actor James McAvoy, who took over the role of Charles Xavier in Fox’s reboot of the franchise in 2011, said: “Wherever you’re going, I know you’ll go boldly…”
Sir Patrick, alongside James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman at SiriusXM Town Hall for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ || image by Dimitrious Kambouris via Getty Images.
One tribute, however, had the world anticipating it for how emotional it would be.
This was the tribute from Sir Ian McKellen, one of Sir Patrick’s closest friends, who officiated his wedding in 2013 and also starred alongside him in ‘Waiting for Godot’ on Broadway the same year, and in the original X-Men trilogy; they’ll share the screen one last time as McKellen also reprises his role as Magneto in Avengers: Doomsday.
“He was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire,” McKellen said.
“You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues.
“He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and, in my case, love.”
Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen perform at the 62nd London Evening Standard Theatre Awards
I will repeat what Sir Patrick’s family said in their initial Instagram statement: “In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to [the] Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre Fund and [the] Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.”
UK equivalents:
Make it so.