Accolades from Hollywood are pouring in for British actor Patrick Stewart, who died at 86 on Thursday from Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
Longtime friend and fellow Brit Ian McKellen took to Instagram to post a memorial.
“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end,” Mr. McKellen wrote. “You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”
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Mr. McKellen also noted that their friendship stretched back nearly half a century, when they met each other at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The venerated actor was known for his roles on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and in the “X-Men” franchise, among numerous roles in a career that spanned over 50 years on stage and screen.
Tributes have poured in from the “Star Trek” franchise, with original “Star Trek” star William Shatner writing that “Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor.”
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“From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did,” he wrote.
Fellow “Next Generation” actor Jonathan Frakes wrote, “There’s no one on this planet that I have acted with or directed more often than my late great friend Patrick Stewart. He will be with me forever.”
Actor and producer Seth MacFarlane, who worked with Mr. Stewart on “American Dad!,” “Family Guy” and “Ted,” wrote that “Patrick was one of those icons who we somehow all took for granted would always be with us.”
“I grew up as a fan, and was later gifted the privilege of becoming a colleague and friend,” he wrote. “He was that rare actor who could take any bit of dialogue and elevate it, making a good writer sound great, and a great writer sound masterful.”
Mr. Stewart died “in the warm embrace of family and friends,” wrote his representatives in a statement published Thursday.
Mr. Stewart will appear posthumously on screen in December as Professor Charles Xavier from “X-Men” in “Avengers: Doomsday.”
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