Patrick Stewart, Star of X-Men and Star Trek, Dies at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart, the Shakespearean actor who became Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier for generations of fans, died on October 28, 2026, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86. His family said he died following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.

"We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny," the statement read. It said he had been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears and laughter.

Stewart worked on stage and screen for nearly six decades. Below is every film he made, from his first credit in 1975 to the final role he finished before he died.

From Mirfield to the Royal Shakespeare Company

Patrick Stewart was born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His childhood was hard. He remembered his father as an alcoholic and an abusive presence at home, and he found refuge first in school and then in Shakespeare.

He left school at 15 to act in local theater and made his professional stage debut in 1959 at the Theatre Royal in Bristol, in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac. In 1966 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in 1970 he made his Broadway debut as Snout in Peter Brook's landmark staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"To stand in the middle of an empty stage in an empty theater and feel that I was at home was everything," he told NPR in 2023.

His first film credits came in 1975, in Hedda and Hennessy. Through the early 1980s he built a screen career in supporting parts, as Leondegrance in Excalibur, as Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's Dune, a story Hollywood is still retelling with Dune Part Three, and in the space vampire film Lifeforce.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard

In 1987 Stewart accepted the role that changed his life, with some worry about what it would mean for his stage career. He became Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran for seven seasons until 1994.

Fans loved the bald, calm, Earl Grey drinking captain and his orders, "Engage!" and "Make it so!" Picard moved to the big screen in Star Trek Generations in 1994, followed by First Contact in 1996, Insurrection in 1998, where Stewart was also an associate producer, and Nemesis in 2002.

He thought he was finished with the character. Then a group of producers, including the novelist Michael Chabon, brought him an idea for an older Picard, and he returned for Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+. The series ended its third and final season in April 2023.

Professor Charles Xavier

In 2000 Stewart took on his second defining role as Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men, the film that helped start the modern superhero era. He went on to play the telepathic founder of the X-Men in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Logan, where his aging, ailing Xavier gave the series one of its most moving performances.

He returned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. His final film is the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, his ninth time playing Xavier on the big screen, according to Variety. Marvel Studios said he brought the character to life "with extraordinary grace, intelligence, and humanity, defining the character for generations of fans."

Hugh Jackman, his longtime X-Men costar, wrote that "we lost one of the greats of stage and screen today."

Sixty Two Films in Fifty One Years

The timeline above shows how wide his work ran. Between the Picard and Xavier films he played Richard the Lionheart in Mel Brooks's Robin Hood: Men in Tights, a maître d' in Steve Martin's L.A. Story and a menacing club owner in the thriller Green Room.

He also became one of the most recognizable voices in animation. He was Seti in The Prince of Egypt, the narrator of Ted and Ted 2, the Great Prince of the forest in Bambi II and, memorably, the voice of the poop emoji in The Emoji Movie. In 2019 he played Bosley in Charlie's Angels and an adult Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King.

Across 62 film credits, the range ran from Shakespearean kings to a cartoon emoji, and he treated every one of them as work worth doing well.

Honors and the Last Word

Stewart was a three time Olivier Award winner and a Tony Award nominee for his stage work, much of it Shakespeare. He won a Grammy in 1995 and received multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations. Queen Elizabeth II made him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 and knighted him in 2010 for services to drama. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.

In 2023 he published his memoir, Making It So, which became a New York Times best seller. It traced his life from Yorkshire to the bridge of the Enterprise and back to the stage.

He never planned to stop. "I can't imagine ever officially retiring," he said in an interview before his death. "I'll always and forever be an actor."

His wife, Sunny Ozell, was with him at home. He kept working almost to the end, and the last film on his timeline has not even reached theaters yet.