Ian McKellen Mourns Patrick Stewart: 'He Wore His Heart on His Sleeve'

Ian McKellen has paid tribute to Patrick Stewart, who died Thursday at age 86 after suffering from Alzheimer's and Lewy Body Dementia. In a moving Instagram post, McKellen remembered his friend of half a century as a Yorkshireman of stern honesty and open feeling.

"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," 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."

How the friendship began

The two actors first crossed paths at the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago, though never in the same production. McKellen's strongest early memory dates to a chance meeting on a central London street, where Stewart told him about an offer to take over a leading part in "Star Trek". McKellen's reaction was caution: "But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk — getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?"

"Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did," McKellen wrote, crediting Stewart with using his international celebrity to star in cinema successes — "'X-Men' of course" — alongside classical work by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London's West End and on Broadway.

McKellen also noted Stewart's personal life in his post. "America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin," he wrote. He added that the proudest achievement of "the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic" was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. His farewell performance in "Avengers: Doomsday" is yet to be seen, McKellen concluded.

What made the bond so public?

The friendship became one of the most celebrated in the entertainment industry after the two were cast as Professor X and Magneto in 2000's "X-Men". Stewart recalled its origins in a 2020 Wired interview: "We had adjoining trailers. On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera. So Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea — and maybe, in the afternoon, something a little stronger — and we got to know one another, and the charm of it was that we found we had so much in common."

Stewart joked in the same interview: "I'll be frank with you — I'm in love with [him]. But then, so is my wife in love with him, too, so that's all right." McKellen officiated when Stewart married Sunny Ozell in 2013. The friends made headlines repeatedly over the years for showing open affection, frequently kissing on the lips at red carpet events.

What does this change for audiences?

The screen record the two actors built together remains substantial:

• "X-Men" (2000), "X2" (2003) and "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006)
• A cameo in "The Wolverine" (2013)
• "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014)
• "Logan" (2017), starring Stewart
• "Avengers: Doomsday", featuring both, due for release this December

Their partnership extended to the stage. In 2013 they shared a Broadway double bill of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", then reunited for "No Man's Land" again in 2016 on London's West End. With "Avengers: Doomsday" arriving in December, audiences will see one final shared screen appearance from a pairing that spanned Shakespeare, Pinter and the X-Men franchise.