Patrick Stewart, stage giant also of ‘Star Trek’ and ‘X-Men’ fame, dies at 86

Patrick Stewart, the classically trained stage actor who scaled the Shakespearean canon and added gravitas to a “Star Trek” franchise and the “X-Men” films, has died. He was 86. Stewart died Wednesday in Los Angeles, following “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak said. 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, respectively, 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 buddy Ian McKellen. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permi