Patrick Stewart, Shakespearean actor and Star Trek's Picard, dies at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart, the classically trained British actor who commanded the starship USS Enterprise as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in *Star Trek: The Next Generation* and played Professor Charles Xavier in the *X-Men* films, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.

A post on his Facebook and Instagram pages said he died after what it described as a "brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia."

A harsh childhood, and Shakespeare as a refuge

Stewart grew up in Yorkshire, England, in what he remembered as harsh circumstances; he described his father as alcoholic and abusive. He found solace in school and, eventually, in Shakespeare. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and made his Broadway debut in 1970 in *A Midsummer Night's Dream*, working alongside some of the leading Shakespeareans of his time, including Judi Dench and Ian McKellen. He was knighted in 2010.

"To stand in the middle of an empty stage in an empty theater and feel that I was at home was everything," he told NPR in 2023. "But it took a while for me to get there."

A starship detour that defined a career

Stewart was lecturing on Shakespeare at UCLA when his name came up for the lead in a new *Star Trek* series. He recalled McKellen advising him against it: "Don't do this, Patrick. You're a very good stage actor. That's where you ought to be. Don't do it." His agent reassured him the show was unlikely to last beyond its first season, so he took what he expected to be a quick job — "Do six months' work. Make some money for the first time in your life and get well known. Get a suntan, and go home."

*The Next Generation* instead became a tremendous hit, airing for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994. Fans embraced Picard's cool-headed leadership, his fondness for Earl Grey tea and catchphrases such as "Engage!" and "Make it so!"

Picard, Professor X and a late return

Stewart also performed an award-winning one-man version of Charles Dickens' *A Christmas Carol*, playing more than 40 roles, and from 2000 he appeared in the *X-Men* franchise. He will appear for the last time as Professor Charles Xavier in the upcoming film *Avengers: Doomsday*.

He believed he was finished with Picard until a team of producers, including writer Michael Chabon, pitched *Star Trek: Picard*, which began streaming in 2020 on the CBS service now called Paramount+. In the series, Picard struggles with the psychological damage that led him to leave Starfleet.

"I would've been happy just shaking Patrick Stewart's hand and telling him how much I loved him on Star Trek," Chabon told NPR. "But to be able to actually write words that he will speak and act is — it's incredible."

Source: NPR News.