Sir Ian McKellen recalls urging Sir Patrick Stewart NOT to take the Picard role as tributes pour in
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 died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday aged 86, following what his family described as a "brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia. Sir Ian McKellen, his friend of more than 50 years, revealed he had actively discouraged Stewart from taking the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard — "and thank goodness for us all that he did" take it.
Dame Judi Dench, 91, said she was "very, very shocked" to hear the news, recalling Stewart as always "very, very committed" on stage.
West End theatres will dim their lights for two minutes at 7pm on Tuesday, November 3, in his honour.
NASA posted a Hubble image appearing to show galaxies colliding in the shape of the USS Enterprise, writing that Stewart inspired "countless individuals to boldly go where no one has gone before."
