Patrick Stewart, actor known for ‘Star Trek’ and ‘X-Men,’ dies at 86

Patrick Stewartthe classically trained actor who added Shakespearean gravitas to the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises has died. He was 86 years old.

Stewart died Wednesday in Los Angelesafter “a brief and harrowing journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, spokeswoman Kelly Bush Novak said. Stewart’s diagnoses had not previously been disclosed.

“We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today,” Hugh Jackman, a frequent co-star of Stewart’s in the “X-Men” universe, said on social media. “And, in my book, a great friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all my days.”

Although he is best known as Professor Charles Xavier and Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the “X-Men” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” series and films, respectively, Stewart has spent more of his career on stage than in the X-Mansion or on the USS Enterprise.

In addition to playing everyone from Claudius to Macbeth, he often performed solo performances of “A Christmas Carol” and did West End and Broadway revivals of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in repertory with his friend Ian McKellen.

He got some of the best reviews of his career when he finally faced Macbeth for the first time. The production, under the direction of Rupert Goold, debuted in May 2007 at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre, then moved to London’s West End, then to the Brooklyn Academy of Music before transferring to Broadway in 2008.

Stewart’s performance earned him his only Tony Award nomination. The Times of London said his Macbeth was “a thrilling creation of fragility, appetite, selfishness and dark humor.” The Daily Telegraph said he gave “a truly terrific performance” and the New York Times said it was “a must-see.”

“I waited almost 50 years,” Stewart told the Associated Press in 2008. “I learned it when I was 14. I memorized all the soliloquies just because I thought they were great. And they stuck, so I didn’t have to learn those bits of the play, which is a blessing, because learning lines has now become the only curse of this job.”

Spaceship commander grew up without a toilet

Raised in Mirfield, Yorkshire, a working-class corner of northern England, the future 24th century naval commander grew up without a bathroom in his house.

Stewart joined an amateur theater group at age 12 and memorized Shakespeare for fun as a teenager. He won a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theater School, launching a career as a character actor.

He had been bald since he was 19 – alopecia runs in the family.

Her father, a former regimental sergeant major in the British Army, was prone to bouts of “repeated violence against my mother,” as Stewart wrote in a newspaper article. “Violence is always a choice that a man makes and he alone is responsible for it. »

In his memoir, “Making It So,” Stewart wrote about how he and his older brother Trevor prepared for nights when their father came home drunk and angry and attacked their mother. “Sometimes it was with an open hand, other times with a closed fist. He was always aiming for her head.”

The son would later become a patron of Refuge, an organization that provides shelter to victims of domestic violence.

Loving Shakespeare Proved Fruitful as Captain Picard

“The stage would prove to be a safe space, a refuge from real life in which I could inhabit another person, living in another place and in another time,” he wrote.

Stewart was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare Company and remained there for 14 years, playing everything from Mark Antony and Henry IV to Shylock and Oberon. “People who weren’t in the business were like, ‘Forget it. Why don’t you go somewhere else?’ And I said: “To do what? “, he told the AP. “TV?”

Stewart eventually left in search of more varied works, including the 1981 film “Excalibur.” He had just mounted a production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1987 when an attractive offer arrived. “I found myself in Hollywood filming a syndicated sci-fi series that I was assured would fail.”

Of course, this is not the case. Thanks to Stewart’s rich baritone and noble bearing, the “Star Trek” franchise lasted seven years, 178 episodes and produced four feature films. He was known for his slogan “Make it so”.

His adoration for Shakespeare will serve him well when he begins playing Jean-Luc Picard, a 24th century spaceship commander.

“There is a formality to the way they speak and behave that reminds me of many Shakespearean situations I have been in on stage. I should play Jean Luc, I realized, as if he were a character in ‘Henry IV,’ which is about brave men,” Stewart wrote in his memoir.

Despite the Borg and Klingons, Stewart still managed to make room for the grubs. He created the Paramount Shakespeare Company, a Saturday and Sunday morning workshop for any interested actor. (Stewart revisited Picard in the television series “Star Trek: Picard.”)

Stewart died just days later Walter Koeniganother “Star Trek” icon, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov on the original NBC television show from 1966 to 1969.

“What a heartbreaking week this has been,” William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the franchise, wrote on Instagram. “Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the deck of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did.”

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” gave him greater exposure, which led to more work, including roles in the films “Conspiracy Theory,” “LA Story” and on Broadway, where he starred in “The Tempest,” “The Caretaker” and David Mamet’s “A Life in the Theater.” He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2010. Stewart was also an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee.

A courageous and authoritarian character. But sexy?

In July 1992, he and model Cindy Crawford were on the cover of TV Guide’s “Top Turn-Ons,” according to a readers’ poll. In his memoir, Stewart wrote: “Absurd.”

Stewart was first introduced as the character Xavier in the original X-Men trilogy, appearing in three films from 2000 to 2006. He then returned in four more films before Professor

He also showcased his comedic talents aboard Seth MacFarlane’s Starz show “Blunt Talk” for two series and voiced Poop in “The Emoji Movie.” He made appearances in “Robot Chicken,” “Futurama” and “The Simpsons” (in one episode, Homer loses his hair and Stewart tells him it’s great to be bald.)

Later in life, he proved Internet savvy and found new fans with his humor, posing in a bath in a lobster costume and sparking memes when he posted a photo of himself picking apples. When a British newspaper mistakenly labeled him gay, he said it was a nice change. “At least I didn’t wake up to the internet telling me I was dead again,” he tweeted.

He married Brooklyn songwriter and singer Sunny Ozell in 2013, with McKellen, the actor’s “X-Men” co-star, officiating. Stewart then tweeted a photo of the newlyweds in a ball pit.

He is also survived by two children, a daughter, Sophia, and a son, Daniel.

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AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed.