Sir Patrick Stewart, the legendary British actor best known for portraying Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek” and Professor Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” franchise, has died at 86, according to a statement shared on his Instagram account.
Stewart died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by family and friends and cared for by his wife, Sunny, following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, the statement said.
“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” Stewart’s longtime spokeswoman Kelly Bush Novak told Fox News Digital. “He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all. We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.
She added that he went from his home in Yorkshire to the Royal Shakespeare Company and on to an “equally acclaimed career spanning six decades on Broadway, the silver screen and television.”
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“His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre,” she wrote. “He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction’s most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise.”
Bush Novak said that Stewart’s professional accomplishments were “humbly matched by his philanthropy and activism on behalf of human rights, survivors of domestic violence, global refugees, veterans’ mental health services, and animal welfare, particularly his cherished foster pitties. He was a Knight, Chancellor, motor sport enthusiast, and lifelong Huddersfield Football fan. He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion and humanity he brought to every role — in his art and life.”
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While Stewart was best known for his TV and film sci-fi roles, he was a prolific — and classically trained theater actor.
Stewart was first discovered for the part of Jean-Luc Picard by a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” producer when he was reading Shakespeare at a UCLA lecture.
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The actor didn’t expect the series, which revamped the original “Star Trek” starring William Shatner, to go past one season.
“I was very naïve about the conditions attached to series television in the U.S.A.,” Stewart admitted to Startrek.com in 2010, explaining he found out he had to sign a six-year contract for the series. “Every single person I spoke to – agents, directors, screenwriters, other actors – said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about six years. You’ll be lucky to make it through the first year.’ Everybody felt it was madness to try to revive an iconic series like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy’s Star Trek. So, on the basis of that advice I signed the six-year contract.”
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The series ended up running for seven seasons and spawned four films: “Star Trek: Generations,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “Star Trek: Insurrection,” and “Star Trek: Nemesis.”
Despite becoming one of the most iconic faces of the “Star Trek” universe and taking on the part of Professor Charles Xaver in nine films, starting with “X-Men” in 2000, Stewart largely avoided becoming typecast as he said he feared.
He was cast in 1991’s “L.A. Story,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “Conspiracy Theory,” the TV miniseries “Moby Dick,” “A Christmas Carol,” “A Lion in Winter,” “Extras,” a 2009 TV movie of “Hamlet” in which he played Claudius, and Seth MacFarlane comedies “Blunt Talk” and “American Dad.” v
Stewart even voiced one of the sheep in Amazon’s “The Sheep Detectives,” which came out earlier this year.
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He received Emmy nominations for “Moby Dick,” “A Lion in Winter,” “Extras,” and “Hamlet.”
On stage, Stewart played Claudius, Ebenezer Scrooge and received his only Tony nomination for his starring role “Macbeth” at the West End in London and on Broadway.
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“Nearly 50 years I’ve waited,” Stewart told The Associated Press in 2008. “I learned it when I was 14. I memorized all the soliloquies just because I thought they were great. And they stuck, so I didn’t have to learn those bits of the play, which is a blessing, because learning lines has now become the one curse of this job.”
Fox News Digital’s Larry Fink and The Associated Press contributed to this report.