Patrick Stewart Dies at 86 After Brief Battle with Dementia

Sir Patrick Stewart, the British actor who commanded the starship Enterprise and led the X-Men, died Wednesday at age 86. His death follows a short period of illness that affected his cognitive health. A post on his social media pages confirmed he passed away at his home in Los Angeles. The update described his final days as a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

Stewart rose to fame playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That series ran for seven seasons from 1987 to 1994. He later returned to the role in the series Picard, which began streaming on Paramount+ in 2020. The character was known for calm leadership and specific catchphrases such as Engage and Make it so. Fans also recognized his preference for Earl Grey tea.

Before his television success, Stewart built a career in theater. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. He made his Broadway debut in 1970 in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In a 2023 interview with NPR, he described the feeling of standing alone on an empty stage. He said, To stand in the middle of an empty stage in an empty theater and feel that I was at home was everything. He added that it took a while to get there.

Stewart was studying Shakespeare at UCLA when he was offered the lead role in Star Trek. His friend and fellow actor Ian McKellen advised him against taking the part. McKellen told him, Don't do this, Patrick. You're a very good stage actor. That's where you ought to be. Don't do it. Stewart's agent argued the show would likely fail after one season. Stewart recalled being told to do six months of work to make money and get a suntan. He thought that sounded acceptable.

The role became a defining part of his career. Stewart also took on the role of Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise starting in 2000. He will appear in the character one last time in the upcoming movie Avengers: Doomsday. Between these major projects, he performed in a one-man version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In that production, he played more than 40 different roles.

Michael Chabon, a writer involved in the Picard series, discussed the opportunity to work with Stewart again. Chabon told NPR he would have been happy just shaking Stewart's hand. He said, But to be able to actually write words that he will speak and act is, it's incredible. The new show depicted Picard dealing with the psychological effects of leaving Starfleet.