Patrick Stewart, Olivier Winner and Tony-Nominated Actor, Dies at 86
The Star Trek and X-Men star's Broadway credits included The Tempest, Macbeth and No Man's Land
(Photo: Tommy García)
What to Know
- Patrick Stewart, the Olivier-winning British actor, died on October 28 at age 86
- Stewart earned a Tony nomination for Macbeth, with Broadway credits including A Christmas Carol, The Tempest, Waiting for Godot and No Man's Land
- A longtime Royal Shakespeare Company performer, Stewart became internationally recognized as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films
Patrick Stewart, the Olivier and Emmy Award-winning actor and Tony nominee whose career spanned film, television and theater, has died. He was 86. Stewart died in his Los Angeles home from Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. News of his passing was shared by his longtime publicist Kelly Bush Novak.
Stewart was born in Mirfield, England on July 13, 1940. His father was a regimental sergeant major in the British Army and his mother was a weaver and textile worker. Stewart turned to acting as a reprieve from an impoverished and often violent childhood. At age 17, he received a scholarship to attend Bristol Old Vic Theater School. Two years later, he starred as Tom Morgan in Treasure Island at the Lincoln Repertory Company in Lincoln, England. Subsequent theatrical roles included Henry in William Shakespeare’s Henry V and Galileo Galilei in Bertolt Brecht’s The Life Galileo. Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and stayed with them through 1988.
Stewart made his Broadway debut as Snout in Peter Brook’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He returned to Broadway 20 years later in a solo production of A Christmas Carol, in which played all the parts. For his shape-shifting performance, Stewart received a Drama Desk Award for outstanding solo performance. He would subsequently bring A Christmas Carol back to Broadway in 1992, 1994 and 2001.
Other Broadway credits include Prospero in The Tempest, Robert in David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre and a Tony-nominated turn as the titular character in Macbeth. In 2013, he performed Waiting For Godot and No Man’s Land in repertory on Broadway alongside his friend, Ian McKellen. In the West End, he received Olivier Awards for Anthony and Cleopatra and Hamlet.
In 1978, Stewart began his tenure as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran for seven seasons. He would reprise this role in a series of films and spin-offs. Stewart portrayed Professor X in Marvel’s X-Men, playing the telepathic mutant in nine films. Elsewhere on the big screen, Stewart was featured in Excalibur, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Ted and David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune.
Stewart is survived by his wife, Sunny Ozell, and two children.
Watch Patrick Stewart interviewed for Broadway.com's Ask a Star series below:
