October 29 – Patrick Stewart, who rose from poverty in England to become an accomplished Shakespearean stage actor and then achieved global stardom as schooner Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and telepathic Professor Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” films, dies at 86.

Stewart, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for his contributions to drama, died at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement on his X account.

It said, “It is with great sadness that we announce that Sir Patrick Stewart passed away yesterday at his home in Los Angeles after a short and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia in the care of his beloved wife Sunny.”

Stewart became an actor at the age of 18 and gained acclaim on stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 1960s. But it wasn’t until he was hired at age 47 for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — a TV series that ran from 1987 to 1994 as a sequel to the 1960s original “Star Trek” — that he achieved mainstream fame by starring in the ’80s.

“Make it this way,” his character Picard would often say when instructing his subordinate to carry out an order, or sometimes deploying a similar catch phrase, “Engage.”

It was a role he debated even after his longtime friend and fellow Shakespearean Ian McKellen advised him to reject “Star Trek” and remain in the theater. Stewart took on the role and became a fan favorite and an essential part of a lucrative sci-fi franchise, playing Picard not only in 176 episodes over seven seasons of that series, but also in several “Star Trek” films and the subsequent streaming series “Star Trek: Picard,” which began airing in 2020 when he was 79.

“As the seven seasons of TNG went on, the gap between Jean-Luc Picard and Patrick Stewart got smaller and smaller, until it became impossible for me to know where he left off and I started. What I believed and felt went into that show,” Stewart told The Guardian newspaper in 2022.

Stewart was also initially shy of being cast as the wheelchair-using mutant Professor X in the “X-Men” films, based on the popular Marvel comic book character.

“I said, ‘Look, I know it’s not science fiction, but it’s fantasy, and I did it.’ But they explained to me that it wouldn’t be like ‘Star Trek’, so I did it. And yet I was proven wrong,” Stewart told the Guardian.

He became a key part of another high-grossing franchise, starting with the first entry “X-Men” in 2000 and many more films followed.

acting was a safe place

Stewart was born on 13 July 1940 in the English town of Mirfield, Yorkshire. He was raised in poverty, with his father said to have returned from World War II and to be an alcoholic who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and was physically abusive to Stewart’s mother. Stewart remembered that he tried to protect her by placing his body between his father and mother.

As a child, Stewart said, a school teacher introduced him to Shakespeare – particularly “The Merchant of Venice” – when he was 12, after which acting became a “safe space”. At the age of 17, his hair started falling and at the age of 19, he became bald. He was embarrassed at the time, but eventually accepted it.

Created by Gene Roddenberry, “Star Trek” presented a hopeful vision of the future in which mankind was venturing into the universe in spaceships traveling faster than the speed of light and encountering alien species. The enduring popularity of the original series and the success of the spinoff films inspired Roddenberry to create “The Next Generation” sequel series.

The character of Picard was the opposite of the flamboyant and sometimes unintentionally buffoonish Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner of the original series – who was conceived as more cerebral and disciplined, though at times coming across as stuffy, humorless, or self-important.

Stewart remembers being overly critical of his co-stars at first.

“I tell the story of calling a meeting of my fellow lead actors and telling them that I thought we weren’t disciplined enough, that we shouldn’t be fooling around on the set as much as we were, but should take everything seriously,” Stewart told The New Yorker in 2023.

“And one of the cast said, ‘Oh, come on, Patrick, we’ve got to have some fun.’ And I thumped the chair and said, ‘We’re not here to have fun’ – which he never let me forget. “He taught me a lot about relaxing and being independent,” Stewart said.

Stewart also felt that while the series improved as it progressed, he made mistakes in his portrayal of Picard in the first two seasons.

Stewart said, “I found it lacked intimacy. It was very official, but he had some other qualities too.” He further added that his work got better in later seasons.

In fact, the best thing for the entire cast might have been the two-part, time-bending series finale.

He became Sir Patrick Stewart when he was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2010. He told reporters that his heroes were British actors Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Alec Guinness, who were also knighted, adding that “to be in that company is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me professionally.”

Stewart was married three times and had two children. Her third marriage was to American musician Sunny Ozell in 2013.

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