Patrick Stewart, Star Trek and X-Men Star, Dies at 86
Sir Patrick Stewart, the Shakespearean actor who became Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.
Patrick Stewart, who rose from poverty in England to become an accomplished Shakespearean stage actor and then achieved global stardom as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" movies, has died at the age of 86. Stewart, knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to drama, died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, according to a statement on his X account reported by Reuters.
The statement said: "We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia." Stewart became an actor at age 18 and gained acclaim on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company beginning in the 1960s, Reuters reported. He was hired at age 47 for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which ran from 1987 to 1994, and played Picard in 176 episodes over seven seasons, in several Star Trek films, and in the streaming series "Star Trek: Picard," which began in 2020 when he was 79.
Stewart also became a central part of a second major franchise as the wheelchair-using Professor X, beginning with the first "X-Men" film in 2000 and continuing through several more, Reuters reported. Born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, he was married three times and had two children; his third marriage, in 2013, was to American musician Sunny Ozell.
