Patrick Stewart, who rose to prominence as an actor of Shakespeare’s works before becoming a household name as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on the TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 86.
He died after a “brief and poignant journey with” Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, Mr. Stewart’s social media accounts shared in a statement.
Mr. Stewart spent almost two decades as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in productions of “Hamlet,” “The Tempest” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” But the English actor experienced a profound breakthrough to American audiences with his role as the serene Picard in the Star Trek spin-off.
“For a lot of people, I will be locked for all time on the bridge of the Enterprise in my spacesuit,” he told The Washington Post in 1997. “Not only am I reconciled to that, I’m quite proud of it. The show represents quality television. It was intelligent, thoughtful, argumentative, and it also told wonderful stories.”
He kept one foot in the theater world, taking on the title role of “Othello” at Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre in 1997, while also appearing in other science-fiction universes. In Hollywood, Mr. Stewart is perhaps synonymous with his role in the X-Men series as Professor X, who supported the powers of other superheroes.
Mr. Stewart’s marriages to Sheila Falconer and Star Trek producer Wendy Neuss ended in divorce. In 2013, he married singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell. He has two children from his first marriage. Information on survivors was not immediately available.
No matter the role, Mr. Stewart brought his training from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he learned to draw on his challenging and rewarding experiences in his personal life.
“We were taught how to store emotions,” he said of the experience in 2014. “It means no experience is ever wasted.”
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