Patrick Stewart, Whose Picard Had Shakespearean Flair, Dies

Patrick Stewart, who vaulted from "unknown British Shakespearean actor"—as the Los Angeles Times described him when he was cast in a Star Trek series—to roles commanding the starship Enterprise and the X-Men, has died. He was 86. Stewart died in Los Angeles after what his spokesperson said was "a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia," surrounded by family and friends, per the Hollywood Reporter. The veteran of the British stage became a sci-fi mainstay as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation starting in 1987, a mid-career pivot for a role he once assumed wouldn't last a full season. It lasted seven seasons and produced four films.

His Shakespearean chops landed Stewart the Star Trek audition, when producer Robert Justman happened to hear him read from the Bard in his customary patrician style at a UCLA lecture; Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry opposed the idea of a British actor in the lead role of the new series. Stewart's Picard became known not just for remaining calm in command but for his directives "Engage!" and "Make it so," per the New York Times.

• Stewart later anchored another blockbuster franchise as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men and its sequels. He thought he was able to explore Picard and Xavier layer by layer. "Both of them … I immensely admired for their morality, for their kindness, for their sensitivity, for their compassion," Stewart once told the Reporter. "Even for their intellectual capacities. Playing Jean-Luc for all those years had a real impact on me."

He won theater awards in England, often for Shakespearean roles. But many American film and television fans thought of him solely as Picard, the Times points out, even after the X-Men success. His move to Hollywood had disappointed his peers in theater. "They used to ask me 'Why, why, why?' as if I was somehow slumming it," Stewart told the Independent. "What snobbery!" he said, adding: "For huge numbers of people, I will always be Jean-Luc Picard, and that's fine. I really believe we created an admirable individual."