Patrick Stewart, the British actor celebrated for both classical theater and blockbuster science fiction, has died at 86 at his Los Angeles home. His family said he had lived with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia after a brief illness, and that his wife, Sunny Ozell, was with him. Raised in poverty in Yorkshire amid domestic abuse, Stewart found acting through Shakespeare at school and began his professional career at 18. He earned acclaim with the Royal Shakespeare Company from the 1960s and was knighted in 2010 for his contributions to drama.
His broad fame came at 47, when he took the lead as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran from 1987 to 1994. He played Picard in 176 episodes, feature films and the later series Star Trek: Picard, shaping the character into a thoughtful, disciplined alternative to the original show’s more swashbuckling captain. Stewart also became a major figure in the X-Men franchise as Professor Charles Xavier, appearing in several films alongside longtime friend Ian McKellen. He continued acting into his 80s and had filmed a role in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for release in December. Stewart was married three times and had two children.
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