Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Patrick Stewart, the British Shakespearean actor who became a Hollywood megastar through roles in the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86. His death on Wednesday came after a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to an official statement on his social media accounts. “His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre,” the statement said.
The actor, who hailed from the northern English region of Yorkshire, trod the boards in Britain with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in London, and worked on British television. But he rocketed into the pop culture history books as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Professor Charles Xavier in multiple “X-Men” and related Marvel films. “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,” the official statement said.
Stewart was 47 when he was cast as Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the first live-action television spinoff of the trailblazing sci-fi series from the late 1960s. He effectively filled the boots of William Shatner’s Captain Kirk from the original show, and the role became Stewart’s path to fame and fortune. Picard became known for a few catchphrases including “Make it so!” Stewart’s 2023 memoir was entitled “Making It So.” But his move to America in 1987 was initially greeted with disdain by the Los Angeles Times, who wrote him off as an “unknown British Shakespearean actor.” Stewart later said he was offended by suggestions he was “slumming it” by moving into US television. He once called his Shakespearean bona fides “nothing but a preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair of the Enterprise.”
Stewart found further acclaim on the big screen in many films of the “X-Men” series, debuting in 2000 as Professor Charles Xavier, the founder and mentor of the mutant superhero team. “For more than 25 years, he brought a gravitas and profundity to the role, earning fans across the globe and helping to transform Super Hero storytelling forever,” Marvel Studios said Thursday. Longtime co-star Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine, remembered Stewart as both “one of the greats of stage and screen” and “a tremendous friend and man.”
From 2020 to 2023, Stewart was tempted back to the “Star Trek” franchise, starring in the “Star Trek: Picard” television series. He was nominated for four Emmys, but never took one home. And even as he found success in Hollywood, Stewart’s love of theater, and the bard in particular, never left him. Between filming, he would return to his roots on the stage, winning two Olivier awards. “Having spent so much of my life with Shakespeare’s world, passions and ideas in my head and in my mouth, he feels like a friend, someone who just went out of the room to get another bottle of wine,” he said. The decorated performer also nabbed a Grammy for spoken word, for his narration of “Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf.”
Stewart was born on July 13, 1940 in the small West Yorkshire town of Mirfield, the third of three brothers in a working-class family. He grew up, it emerged much later, in the shadow of domestic violence. His father, back from World War II and perhaps suffering from PTSD, would often beat Stewart’s mother. Stewart would later work with the charity Refuge, which specializes in domestic abuse.
The actor left school at 15 but not without the encouragement of his English teacher Cecil Dormand, who introduced him to Shakespeare and gave him his first role in a play with adults. He studied at Bristol Old Vic Drama School beginning in 1957, making his professional acting debut two years later. Prematurely balding, Stewart missed out on many of the young romantic leads but quickly slotted into theater life, joining the RSC in 1966 and staying there until 1982. Any misgivings Stewart had about taking on the Picard role in “Star Trek” were mollified by the thought it would be a one-season failure. He was wrong. “It changed my life,” he said.
Stewart is to make his final on-screen film appearance as Professor Xavier in “Avengers: Doomsday,” set for release in December. Knighted in 2010, Stewart married three times: to Sheila Falconer, with whom he had two children including Daniel, who is also an actor, briefly to “Star Trek” producer Wendy Neuss, and most recently to American singer Sunny Ozell, 38 years his junior.
© 2024 AFP
