Patrick Stewart, the acclaimed British stage and screen actor renowned for both Shakespeare and sci-fi, has died at the age of 86.
His longtime spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, told The Hollywood Reporter that the Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men star died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.”
Novak says he was 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 them all.
She wrote that they would forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.
Stewart reprised his role in four feature film spin-offs – Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – as well as the TV series Star Trek: Picard, which ran from 2020 until 2023.
Another of his best-known roles was playing Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series.
The actor had found it difficult to obtain work after feeling typecast as a result of his Star Trek role, but had been intrigued by the opportunity to work with director Bryan Singer on 2000’s X-Men.
Source: The Guardian
