Sir Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard and X-Men's Professor X, dies at 86
Sir Patrick Stewart, the British stage actor who became a global star as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, has died aged 86. He died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, cared for by his wife Sunny, after what his representative called a brief journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Sir Patrick Stewart, best known around the world as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, has died at the age of 86. A statement from his representative, reported by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, said he died on Wednesday, 28 October, at his home in Los Angeles, in the care of his wife Sunny, following "a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia".
"We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace," the statement said. His official X account asked that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund and to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's caregiver resources.
Born on 13 July 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and spent decades as a classical stage actor in Britain before he was cast, largely unknown in America, as Picard. Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994 and was followed by four films. He returned to the role in Star Trek: Picard, which ran from 2020 to 2023.
From 2000 he played the telepathic mutant leader Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, opposite his close friend Ian McKellen as Magneto, a role he played for nearly two decades, including in Logan (2017). On television he also played Captain Ahab in Moby Dick and King Henry II in The Lion in Winter, and he voiced Avery Bullock in American Dad!. On stage he won Olivier Awards and earned a Tony nomination.
Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for services to drama. He published a memoir, Making It So, in 2023. He married jazz singer Sunny Ozell in 2013 and had two children, Daniel and Sophia, from his first marriage, to Sheila Falconer.