Patrick Stewart, the actor best known for his commanding roles as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise, has died, according to a statement from his family. Stewart died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles "following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia," a statement from spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak reads. "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," reads an official statement.
"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, years, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all. We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invisible grace." Stewart's award-winning acting career spanned over 60 years on stage and screen. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16 years, Stewart appeared in a broad range of stage productions, TV shows, and films.
In the early 1980s, he played minor roles in films such as John Boorman's Excalibur, David Lynch's Dune, and Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce. His breakout role came in 1987 when he landed the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry's revival of the cult-hit sci-fi television series. From 1987 to 1994, Stewart played Picard across seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, later reprising the role in four feature films and the revival series Star Trek: Picard, which ran from 2020 to 2023.
Stewart once worried being typecast as the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D and said that the role limited his other opportunities. In 2001, he told the BBC, "It still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else." He wholly embraced the role in later years, telling The Independent, “For huge numbers of people, I will always be Jean-Luc Picard, and that’s fine.
I really believe we created an admirable individual.” In 2000, Stewart took on another iconic role, that of Professor Charles Xavier, the leader of Marvel's team of mutants, the X-Men. Stewart played Xavier in seven mainline X-Men films (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan) and played an alternate version of the character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He will reprise his role as the original Charles Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday, which comes to movie theaters in December.
In 2010, Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama, officially becoming Sir Patrick Stewart.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
