Ian McKellen leads tributes to Patrick Stewart, revealing he once urged him NOT to take the Star Trek role
Sir Patrick Stewart, who died on Wednesday aged 86. He is to appear posthumously as Professor Xavier in Marvel's forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday.Patrick Stewart as Professor X, the role he reprised for *Avengers: Doomsday*, due for release on 18 December, in which he reunites with lifelong friend Ian McKellen.Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, the role he won after Gene Roddenberry — who had initially refused to consider him — was ultimately forced to cast him.Sir Patrick Stewart with his wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, who cared for him at their Los Angeles home during his illness and was at his side when he died on Wednesday.
Sir Patrick Stewart passed away at his Los Angeles home on October 28, aged 86, after what his family called a "brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia. Dame Judi Dench, 91, said she was "very, very shocked" and "very surprised" by the news, while Downing Street noted he "never forgot his working-class Yorkshire roots" and "brought joy to millions."
McKellen's Instagram tribute recalled meeting Stewart as "ambitious young actors" at the RSC "half a century ago" before urging him to protect his stage career.
At 7pm on Tuesday, November 3, lights across West End theatres will be lowered for two minutes as a mark of tribute.
NASA posted a Hubble image of colliding galaxies shaped like the USS Enterprise, writing that Stewart inspired them "to boldly go where no one has gone before."
