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Legendary actor Patrick Stewart, renowned globally as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek universe and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film franchise, died on Wednesday at the age of 86. According to an Instagram post announcing the news, Stewart passed away following a brief battle with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.
Spanning over six decades, Stewart’s career began in Shakespearean stage productions and smaller television projects in the UK. He achieved mainstream global stardom in 1987 by leading the crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Fans looking to celebrate his extensive body of work can stream many of his most memorable genre-defining projects across various platforms.
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard
Stewart starred as Captain Jean-Luc Picard across seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation before bringing the character to the big screen in four feature films. He later reprised the iconic role in the three-season sequel series Star Trek: Picard, which concluded with a special TNG cast reunion.
The X-Men Franchise
Stepping into another legendary role in 2000, Stewart portrayed Professor Charles Xavier, the wheelchair-bound leader of the X-Men. He appeared in six installments of the franchise, including the standalone Wolverine film, Logan. His final performance as Professor X is scheduled to appear in Avengers: Doomsday.
Green Room and Moby Dick
Demonstrating his range in a villainous capacity, Stewart played Darcy Banker, the soft-spoken yet violent leader of a white supremacist bar, in the 2015 thriller Green Room. Earlier in his career, he took on the role of Captain Ahab in the 1998 miniseries adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, starring alongside Gregory Peck, Piripi Waretini, and Henry Thomas.
Dune, The Prince of Egypt, and Extras
Stewart appeared as Gurney Halleck in David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune, a film that later gained cult status. Utilizing his resonant voice for animation, he voiced Pharaoh Seti I, the antagonist in the 1998 film The Prince of Egypt, alongside a cast that included Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin, and Sandra Bullock. Additionally, Stewart poked fun at himself during a memorable guest appearance in the first season of Ricky Gervais’ comedy series Extras.
Jeffrey and The Sheep Detectives
In the 1995 comedy Jeffrey, which explored gay-themed storytelling during a period when such films were rare, Stewart joined a cast featuring Steven Weber, Michael T. Weiss, Bryan Bratt, Nathan Lane, and Sigourney Weaver. One of his final projects is an upcoming role as Sir Ritchfield, an elder sheep in Amazon MGM Studios’ The Sheep Detectives, which follows a flock investigating the death of their shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman.
