Sir Patrick Stewart, the Shakespearean actor whose stage career ran from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Broadway, has died at 86. He died on October 28 at his home in Los Angeles, in the care of his wife, Sunny Ozell, following what his family called “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” Playbill reports.
The family’s statement said he would “be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to every role.” Stewart was born in Mirfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on July 13, 1940, according to the BBC, and was knighted in 2010.
Where did his stage career begin?
Stewart trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and made his first professional stage appearance in 1959, in Cyrano de Bergerac for the Bristol Old Vic Company. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and was a star player there until 1982, appearing in more than 60 productions, Playbill notes.
He won his first Olivier Award for Antony and Cleopatra in 1979 and a second for playing Claudius in Hamlet, WhatsOnStage reports.
What did he do on Broadway?
Stewart made his Broadway debut in 1970 as Snout in Peter Brook’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1991 he returned with his own solo adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, playing more than 40 characters. The production came back to Broadway for the holidays in 1992, 1994 and 2001, and won him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance/One Person Show.
His other Broadway credits included The Tempest, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, The Caretaker and A Life in the Theatre. His performance in Macbeth brought him the one Tony Award nomination of his career.
Who did he share the stage with?
Stewart’s last Broadway appearance came in repertory with his close friend Ian McKellen, as the pair alternated Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land. McKellen also officiated at Stewart’s 2013 wedding to Ozell.
Their friendship predated Star Trek. Stewart recalled to NPR that when the lead in a new Star Trek series came up, McKellen told him: “You’re a very good stage actor. That’s where you ought to be.”
How did the screen shape his career?
Stewart took the role anyway. As Captain Jean-Luc Picard, he led Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons, from 1987 to 1994, and returned to the character in Star Trek: Picard in 2020. He played Professor Charles Xavier in seven installments of the X-Men franchise.
Playbill notes that, like McKellen, he used that screen fame to draw younger audiences to Shakespeare, Beckett and Pinter. “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.
Who survives him?
Stewart is survived by his wife and by his children, Sophie and Daniel. In lieu of flowers, his family has asked that memorial contributions be made to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and to Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.
About the author
Miles covers international and touring theater, including Broadway news, for The Broadway Guide.