Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard and X-Men's Professor X, Dies at 86: Actor Passed Away October 28 at His Los Angeles Home
Patrick Stewart, the British actor who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" films, died on October 28 at his home in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, at the age of 86. His spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak confirmed the news on October 29, and Reuters, the Associated Press and CNN all reported his death the same day.
A statement posted to Stewart's official X account on October 29 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." The announcement said memorial contributions could be made to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund and to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's caregiver resources.
William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original "Star Trek" series, paid tribute, describing Stewart as "a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor" who "brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did." Marvel also expressed its condolences, remembering him as "a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman." Stewart will also appear as Professor X again in the upcoming film "Avengers: Doomsday."
Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, and was raised in poverty; his father returned from World War Two with post-traumatic stress and physically abused Stewart's mother. When Stewart was 12, a schoolteacher introduced him to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice," and acting became his safe space. He became an actor at 18 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, building an acclaimed stage career over the following years. He won three Olivier Awards, the most recent in 2009 for playing Claudius in "Hamlet."
In 1987, at age 47, Stewart took the role of Captain Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," a role his longtime friend and fellow British actor Ian McKellen had initially advised him to turn down in favor of the theater. The series ran from 1987 to 1994 over seven seasons, with Stewart playing Picard in 176 episodes and in several "Star Trek" films; in 2020, at 79, he returned to the role in the streaming series "Star Trek: Picard," which ran until 2023. Picard's catchphrase "Make it so" became a cultural touchstone. "As the seven seasons of TNG went by, the distinction between Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart became thinner and thinner, until it was impossible for me to know where he left off and I began. So much of what I believed and felt went into that show," Stewart said in 2022.
In 2000, Stewart was cast as the wheelchair-using telepath Professor X in "X-Men," and he went on to play the role in several more films, making it another of his signature characters. In 2010, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him at Buckingham Palace for his services to drama; he said being in the company of knighted actors such as Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Alec Guinness was "the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me."
Stewart was married three times and had a son and a daughter with his first wife, British actress Sheila Falconer. His third wife is American musician Sunny Ozell; they married in 2013 in a ceremony officiated by McKellen, and the couple lived in Los Angeles.
Related: Walter Koenig, Star Trek's Chekov, Dies at 90: Actor Passed Away October 25 at His Los Angeles Home; Michael Forest, Actor in Roger Corman Movies and 'Star Trek,' Dies at 97
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：帕特里克·斯图尔特2019年7月20日出席圣迭戈动漫展（资料照片）。图片来源：Gage Skidmore／Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0。Photo: Patrick Stewart at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2019 (file photo) by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- 2026-10-29Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard and X-Men's Professor X, Dies at 86: Actor Passed Away October 28 at His Los Angeles HomeThis story
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