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Actor, writer, and activist Sir Patrick Stewart died on Wednesday. He was 86. In a statement issued via his social media on October 29, his family wrote that the Star Trek star and renowned Shakespearean thespian left us following “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. “He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to ever role—in his art and life,” the statement read.
Since the news surfaced, an outpouring of grief rippled from his closest colleagues and collaborators. Notably among them, Sir Ian McKellen, a true friend and screen partner of Stewart’s for over 50 years across stage and film, wrote an emotional tribute to Stewart over social media .
“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end,” McKellan wrote. “He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”
In 1987, Stewart was already a renowned stage actor in the UK with a handful of credits in movies like Excalibur and David Lynch’s Dune when he landed his star-making role: Captain Jean-Luc Pica...