Actor Ian McKellen, best known for roles such as Magneto in the X-Men films, has paid an emotional tribute to late star Patrick Stewart, who died on Wednesday at the age of 86. Stewart played the on-screen role of Professor Charles Xavier or Professor X, an enemy of Magneto. Despite their on-screen relationship as enemies, McKellen and Stewart have been longtime friends off-screen.
Hours after news of Stewart’s death broke, McKellen posted a long post on Instagram remembering their friendship.
What did Ian McKellen say about Patrick Stewart?
McKellen, 87, wrote, “Above all else, Patrick identified with being born and raised in Yorkshire, a glorious county in the north of England, which he loved to the end.” He added, “You could hear it in his accented voice and in the brutal honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen are not fond of half-truths or avoiding the big issues.”
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The actor further said that Stewart “wore his heart on his sleeve.” According to McKellen, this trait made him “a person to trust, admire, and in my case, love.”
A look at Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart’s relationship
McKellen recalled meeting Stewart when they were both “aspiring young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago”. However, the two were not in the same production at that time.
McKellen recounts fondly, “My first strong memory was meeting him on the street in central London a few years later, when he told me about the offer to play a leading role in ‘Star Trek’.” He said he had reminded Stewart of his ‘stage career’ in the UK and the possibility of being “lost in Hollywood for years and years”.
“Well, they took the risk and we thank God for all that they did, not only for their dedicated Trekkies but also for film and theater audiences, who used the cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and international celebrity to star in the great classical plays of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett in Stratford-upon-Avon, London’s West End and on Broadway. But surprised,” McKellen said, praising Stewart’s impressive work.
McKellen further said of his friend, “America was his adopted home, where he met his beloved Sunny, who nursed him through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. But he never left his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on both sides of the Atlantic was his appointment as Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield in Yorkshire.”
Meanwhile, Stewart previously revealed that her relationship with McKellen grew stronger when they played their roles in the X-Men films. “In movies like this, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than sitting in front of the camera. So, Ian and I hung out together, had tea – and maybe in the afternoon, something a little stronger – and we got to know each other. And the charm of it was that we discovered we had a lot in common,” he said. told Wired in 2020.
McKellen also officiated Stewart’s wedding to singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell in 2013. Both of them have also kissed in public. Stewart, a longtime LGBTQ ally, has always been supportive of McKellen, who publicly came out as gay in 1988.
While appearing on The Graham Norton Show in 2017, Stewart recalled McKellen’s comments on their relationship. “He said something the other day… one of the best things ever. He said, ‘Yes, Patrick Stewart and I – I really feel that [at] I finally have a brother,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s final performance will be seen in Avengers: Doomsday, which will be released on December 18.