Sir Patrick Stewart, the award-winning British actor who became widely known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, has died at the age of 86. Ars staff joined the worldwide mourning for the performer.
A statement from Stewart’s representatives said he died at his home in Los Angeles, where he was cared for by his wife, Sunny. The statement said he had experienced a brief period with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, surrounded by family and friends.
In a message shared through Stewart’s X account, his family asked that people who wish to honor him make memorial contributions to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources instead of sending flowers.
Stewart was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1940. He became interested in acting at 12, after an English teacher gave him the role of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Years later, he would perform the character for the Royal Shakespeare Company, alongside many other stage roles.
His baldness, associated with alopecia, appeared when he was about 19. Before establishing his acting career, Stewart briefly worked as a cub reporter and furniture salesman. He later received a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and obtained his first professional role in 1959, playing a stranded pirate in the Lincoln Repertory Company’s production of Treasure Island.
Sources: Ars Technica.