Ian McKellen has written a moving tribute to Patrick Stewart, his long-time close friend, after he died on Thursday aged 86 from Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
“Above all, Patrick was defined by the fact that he was born and raised in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England that he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshirens don’t like half-truths or the avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, admire and in my case, love,” McKellen wrote on Instagram.
“We first met as ambitious young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago, but we were not in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, when I met him on the street in central London when he told me about an offer to reprise a leading role in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick is thinking of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years? Well, he took the risk and, thank goodness, all he did not only for his devoted Trekkies, but also for cinema and theater audiences, who marveled as he used international stardom to star in a series of cinematic hits (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classic plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the West End of London and on Broadway.
“America was his adopted home, where he met his beloved Sunny who cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never abandoned his origins: and the greatest pride of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on both sides of the Atlantic was his appointment as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield in Yorkshire.”
“His farewell performance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ has yet to be seen,” McKellen concluded.
Stewart and McKellen’s friendship was one of the most cherished in the entertainment industry. The two became friends while playing Professor to know each other, and the charm was that we discovered that we had so much in common.”
McKellen was the officiant when Stewart married his wife, Sunny Ozell, in 2013. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m in love with (him),” Stewart joked in the same interview. “But my wife is in love with him too, so it’s okay.” The friends have made headlines multiple times over the years for showing each other affection so openly, frequently kissing each other on the lips at red carpet events.
Ian McKellen, left, and Patrick Stewart kiss at the British premiere of McKellen’s film ‘Mr Holmes’ in 2015.
Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
In addition to the original “X-Men” in 2000, Stewart and McKellen starred in the sequels “X2” (2003) and “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006), then made an appearance in “The Wolverine” (2013) before fully reprising their roles in 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Stewart also starred in 2017’s “Logan” and both appear in “Avengers: Doomsday,” which will be released in December.
The duo also worked together on stage, performing in a 2013 Broadway production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” and Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land” before performing “No Man’s Land” again in 2016 in London’s West End.
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