Sir Patrick Stewart, Stage Actor Known as Picard and Professor X, Dies at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart, the English actor best known as Jean-Luc Picard, the captain in the 1987 “Star Trek” sequel series “The Next Generation” and as Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” films, died Oct. 28 at 86 at his home in Los Angeles, CBS News and the Associated Press reported. His spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, said he died after what the statement called a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia. He died in the care of his wife, the singer Sunny Ozell, CBS News and Today.com reported.

Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s. His only Tony nomination came for Macbeth on Broadway, the AP reported. He played Picard on television from 1987 and in four films, according to CBS News, and was knighted in 2010. He was set to reprise Xavier in “Avengers: Doomsday,” due in December.

William Shatner called him a magnificent actor and friend, and Hugh Jackman wrote that a great of the stage and screen had been lost, CBS News reported. Stewart was a patron of the domestic-abuse charity Refuge and an ambassador for the International Rescue Committee, the AP reported.