VALE SIR PATRICK STEWART: STAR TREK AND X-MEN LEGEND DIES AT 86
Photo: Unsplash
The stage and screen world is in mourning after Sir Patrick Stewart, the commanding Yorkshireman who became Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier to millions, died at his home aged 86.
His spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, confirmed the news, telling CBS News that he died after "a brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
He was surrounded by family and friends, with his wife, singer and songwriter Sunny Ozell, at his side.
From Mirfield to the Royal Shakespeare Company
Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, on 13 July 1940, Stewart grew up in a modest home with an outdoor toilet.
As ABC News recounts, his childhood was overshadowed by his father's violence towards his mother, and he later spoke of acting as his safe space.
A schoolteacher handed him The Merchant of Venice at 12, and he never looked back.
That difficult start shaped one of his proudest legacies.
He became a passionate supporter of Refuge, the charity for people affected by domestic abuse, and his openness gave courage to many survivors.
He won a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, lost his hair by 19, and went on to spend 14 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing Mark Antony, Henry IV, Shylock and Oberon.
He won Olivier Awards for Antony and Cleopatra in 1979 and for playing Claudius opposite David Tennant's Hamlet in 2009, and his one man A Christmas Carol took the Olivier for Best Entertainment in 1994.
A special link with Australia
Australians may be surprised to learn how early our country featured in his story.
At just 21, he toured here in 1961 and 1962 with the Old Vic company in a production starring Vivien Leigh and directed by Australian Robert Helpmann, and he returned in 1975 with the RSC in Hedda Gabler, ABC News reports.
Make it so: Picard and Professor X
Global fame arrived at 47, when he was cast as Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987.
He was reportedly told the series would fail.
Instead it ran for seven seasons and 176 episodes, spawned four films and made the phrase "make it so" part of everyday language.
He returned to the role in Star Trek: Picard, which ran for three seasons from 2020.
A whole new generation then knew him as the calm, wise Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, beginning in 2000 and including the moving Logan in 2017.
His final turn as Xavier comes in Avengers: Doomsday, due in cinemas in December.
Along the way he was appointed an OBE in 2001 and knighted in 2010 for services to drama, starred in Waiting for Godot alongside his dear friend Sir Ian McKellen, voiced characters on Family Guy and American Dad, won a Grammy for narrating Peter and the Wolf, and published a bestselling memoir, Making It So, in 2023.
Tributes pour in for Patrick Stewart
Hugh Jackman, his long-time X-Men co-star, mourned the loss of one of the greats of stage and screen, calling him a tremendous friend and man.
Sir Ian McKellen described him as the most respected and beloved actor of his generation, "a man to rely on, to admire" and to love, according to Euronews.
William Shatner said Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him, while Star Trek co-stars Jonathan Frakes and Wil Wheaton shared heartfelt messages, with Wheaton simply bidding his old captain godspeed.
The Royal Shakespeare Company hailed him as a colossus of stage and screen, and fans have been laying flowers on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Stewart was married three times and is survived by Sunny and by his two children, Daniel and Sophia, from his first marriage to Sheila Falconer.
He once described himself as someone who ended up doing for a living what he would have done for nothing.
For the many of us who grew up with his voice, his warmth and that unmistakable presence, it was a gift we were lucky to share.
If dementia has touched your own family, Dementia Australia offers free support and information on 1800 100 500.
