Sir Patrick Stewart, known for his role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to a statement shared on his social media.
“We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” a statement posted to Stewart’s social media said.
“He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” the statement added.
“We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace,” the statement continued. “A son of Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he travelled from the Royal Shakespeare Company to an equally acclaimed career spanning six decades on Broadway, the silver screen and television.”
The statement said that Stewart “explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction’s most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise.”
“He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion and humanity he brought to every role — in his art and life,” the statement concluded.
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The post also included a quote from Stewart’s 2023 book, Making It So: A Memoir.
“Like me, Jean-Luc has lived an unusual life that has taken him far beyond the bounds of normal human experience. But he is also someone who has remained true to his earthbound roots, for they are what gave him his identity. In the end, he feels the call of home, as do I,” Stewart said.
In lieu of flowers, Stewart’s family has asked for contributions to be may to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.
While best known as Professor Charles Xavier and Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the X-Men and Star Trek: The Next Generation series and films, Stewart spent more of his career onstage than in the X-Mansion or on the USS Enterprise.
Besides playing everyone from Claudius to Macbeth, he often performed a one-man rendition of A Christmas Carol and did West End and Broadway runs of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in repertoire with Ian McKellen.
Stewart was first introduced as the character Xavier in the original X-Men trilogy, and appeared in several films including X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past before Professor X’s death in 2017’s Logan. He reappeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022.
Stewart first stepped onto the USS Enterprise in 1987 for Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing Picard throughout 1987-1994. After the series, he went on to appear in the films Star Trek: Generations with William Shatner, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis.
He also showed off his comedic chops aboard Seth MacFarlane’s Starz show Blunt Talk for two series and voiced Poop in The Emoji Movie. He made appearances on Robot Chicken, Futurama and The Simpsons.
Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that destroys brain cells, causing thinking ability and memory to decline over time, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of all cases of dementia, and it is irreversible.
According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, by the year 2050 more than 1.7 million Canadians are expected to be living with dementia, with an average of 685 individuals being diagnosed each day.
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a type of progressive dementia that leads to a decline in thinking, reasoning and independent function, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Symptoms may include spontaneous changes in attention and alertness, recurrent visual hallucinations, REM sleep behaviour disorder, and slow movement, tremors or rigidity, the organization notes.
Stewart is survived by his wife Sunny Ozell, and his two children, Sophia and Daniel.
—With files from The Associated Press
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