Patrick Stewart, best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise, has died at 86.
Stewart’s family announced his passing on his Instagram page on 29 October, writing, “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. He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all.”
Born on 13 July 1940 in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, Stewart built his name on the stage, spending two decades with the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 and winning three Olivier Awards, alongside a Tony nomination. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for services to drama.
To generations of fans, though, he was Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Stewart led the USS Enterprise across seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994, and would reprise the role in four feature films, alongside a return to the role in the 2020 series Star Trek: Picard. He was just as iconic to another fandom as Professor Charles Xavier, originating the role in 2000’s X-Men and reprising it across the franchise, including Logan in 2017 and his MCU debut in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He is set to appear as the character one final time in Avengers: Doomsday, due out on 18 December, which will also mark his final on-screen role.
Gamers will know his voice just as well, as Stewart played Emperor Uriel Septim VII in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a role that won him a Spike TV Video Game Award in 2006, voiced Zobek in 2010’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its 2013 sequel. He also reprised both Picard and Professor X across numerous Star Trek and X-Men video games.
Stewart is survived by his wife, American singer Sunny Ozell, and his two children, Daniel and Sophie. In lieu of flowers, his family has asked for memorial contributions to be made to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.
Rest in peace, Captain. You’ll be sorely missed.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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