Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" films, died Wednesday, October 28, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.
His longtime representative, Kelly Bush Novak, said in a statement shared with Deadline on Thursday that he died "in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia."
From Yorkshire stage to the Enterprise
Stewart was born July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, in West Yorkshire, England. According to the University of Huddersfield, where he served as chancellor from 2004 to 2015, he was the son of a career soldier and a weaver. He quit school at 15 and spent a short time on the local newspaper's reporting staff before turning to acting. The university later named its drama building and theater after him.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and appeared in more than 60 of its productions. "The Next Generation" premiered in 1987 with Stewart, then 47 and best known on British stages, in command of the Enterprise. The show ran seven seasons and led to four films, starting with "Star Trek Generations" in 1994.
In 2000 he took the role of Charles Xavier, the telepathic founder of the X-Men, and played him across the franchise, including opposite Hugh Jackman in "Logan" in 2017. Picard came back in 2020 with "Star Trek: Picard," which wrapped its third and last season in April 2023.
On stage he won three Olivier Awards and earned a Tony nomination for "Macbeth." He was knighted in 2010, and in 2023 he published a memoir, "Making It So."
Where to watch his best-known roles
| Title | Role | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 to 1994) | Jean-Luc Picard | Paramount+, all 7 seasons |
| Star Trek: Picard (2020 to 2023) | Jean-Luc Picard | Paramount+, all 3 seasons |
| Avengers: Doomsday | Charles Xavier | In theaters December 18, 2026 |
Marvel lists Stewart in the cast of "Avengers: Doomsday," his eighth time playing Xavier. He also voiced Sir Ritchfield in this year's comedy "The Sheep Detectives," with Jackman.
