The Passing of a Legend
It’s no hyperbole to say that Patrick Stewart is a legend of the stage and screen. The actor’s gravitas made his performances seem effortless. Whether he was in Waiting for Godot or X-Men or a voice in American Dad, Stewart’s positive energy, consummate professionalism and acting prowess made him one of the most beloved working actors in the business. For decades, Stewart has been an icon of the science fiction world with his turn as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Xavier in the X-Men movies.
Ian McKellen’s Tribute
It also feels like it’s not a hyperbole that actor Ian McKellen calls Patrick Stewart his brother. The two would be known as enemies in the X-Men movies, but outside of those films, their friendship transcended beyond anything anyone could ever imagine two co-stars could have. With this week’s heartbreaking news, McKellen would go to his Instagram to post a picture of his friend with a lovely tribute and reflection in the post.
His caption reads,
SIR PATRICK STEWART (1940-2026)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. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.
We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”. Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.
America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.
His farewell performance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is yet to be seen.
Ian McKellen 29 October 2026″
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