Actor Patrick Stewart Dies at 86 After Battle With Dementia

Sir Patrick Stewart, the stage-trained actor who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, died on Oct. 28 at age 86.

Born in Yorkshire, England, in 1940, Stewart began his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. Through his stage work he met Sir Ian McKellen, and he later became widely known for leading the crew of the USS Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," a series that ran from 1987 to 1994 and produced four films. He also appeared as the wheelchair-using Professor Xavier across Marvel's "X-Men" movies, a role that brought him to Ontario.

Filming for the first "X-Men" picture in 2000 took Stewart and McKellen to Casa Loma, the former Gooderham & Worts Distillery complex on Mill Street, Metro Hall Council Chambers, Roy Thompson Hall and Rouge National Urban Park. The sequels, "X2: X-Men United" in 2003 and "X-Men: The Last Stand" in 2006, also used locations in Toronto and Vancouver. "I first met Patrick working for the Royal Shakespeare Company but became best pals in Toronto and Vancouver, filming the early 'X-Men.' O Canada, thank you," McKellen wrote on Facebook in 2020. The two later shared the stage in England in a 2009 production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and again in 2013 in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land." McKellen officiated at Stewart's 2013 wedding to Sunny Ozell.

In an Oct. 29 Instagram post, McKellen described their first meeting as young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company, then a chance street encounter in central London where Stewart told him about taking a leading part in "Star Trek." "What a heartbreaking week it has been," costar William Shatner wrote on Facebook, calling Stewart a friend, colleague and magnificent actor. Hugh Jackman, who appeared with him in "X-Men," wrote that he learned much from Stewart and would miss him. Stewart's death followed a period living with Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia.

Stewart won a Grammy in 1996 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for "Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf," and Queen Elizabeth knighted him in 2010 for his contributions to British drama. McKellen has said Stewart considered his 2004 appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire his highest achievement. His family said memorial contributions may go to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's disease Research Center Fund or the Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources. Stewart will appear as Professor Xavier in "Avengers: Doomsday," scheduled for theatres in December.