Screen legend, 86, dies weeks before his final role reaches cinemas

One of the most beloved actors of his generation has died at 86, just weeks before his final film role reaches cinemas.

His death was announced on Thursday, October 29, by his spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, in a statement also shared on his Instagram.

He died the day before 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."

The star is Sir Patrick Stewart: Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Star Trek fans, Professor Charles Xavier to X-Men fans, and a Shakespearean actor first and last.

In his final days, the statement said, he was "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."

One last role still to come

Stewart's final performance is still ahead of us. He reprises Professor Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday, which opens on December 18.

The film also stars Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom and Ian McKellen as Magneto, Xavier's old rival on screen and one of Stewart's closest friends off it. McKellen officiated at Stewart's wedding to Sunny Ozell in 2013.

Reports last year suggested Doomsday would be his last acting job. Marvel has now confirmed it is his final on-screen performance, ComicBook.com reported.

He hadn't been seen in public for more than two years, Just Jared noted. His last outings were in October 2024: a Gladiator II screening, where he chatted with the film's star Paul Mescal, and a screening of The Piano Lesson with Denzel and John David Washington.

His last Instagram post, on October 16, was pure Stewart. He was celebrating his audiobook of Shakespeare's sonnets being put forward for a Grammy.

"I think The Bard would love a Grammy!" he wrote.

From Yorkshire to the Enterprise

Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire. He made his professional stage debut in 1959 and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966.

Then came the role that changed everything. In 1987 he was cast as Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran until 1994. He led four Star Trek films after it, and returned for three seasons of Star Trek: Picard from 2020 to 2023.

From 2000 he was Professor X, across seven X-Men films ending with Logan, with a cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness along the way.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, won two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, and published his memoir, Making It So, in 2023. He and McKellen also shared the stage in Waiting for Godot, in 2009 and again in 2014.

Tributes pour in

Hugh Jackman, his Wolverine across the X-Men films, led the tributes. "We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today," he wrote, calling Stewart "a tremendous friend and man."

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige remembered where it started: "I'll never forget the first time I saw Sir Patrick Stewart on the set of the first X-Men."

Patti Smith left a short comment under the announcement: "Tears of love."

Stewart is survived by his wife, Sunny, and his children, Daniel and Sophia, from his first marriage.

His final bow comes on December 18.