Patrick Stewart Dies at 86 as Ian McKellen Pays Tribute

By Grace Kim

Patrick Stewart died on Wednesday at 86. Ian McKellen paid tribute to his “X-Men” series co-star and longtime friend in a statement posted to social media.

McKellen’s account said the actors first met as ambitious young performers with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century earlier, though they did not work together in its productions. McKellen recalled that they became inseparable for general audiences when they played the frenemies Magneto and Professor X in Marvel’s “X-Men” film series.

McKellen recalled their repeated appearances at each other’s premieres. His account placed them among British theatre’s leading global ambassadors. In 2009, they starred together in a West End (London’s theatre district) production of “Waiting for Godot.”

Yorkshire and honesty

McKellen’s portrait began with place and temperament. In his statement, McKellen wrote:

“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.

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.”

McKellen also recalled Stewart’s decision to play Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in the late ’80s. He said the role solidified Stewart’s presence in Hollywood and made him a household name for general audiences.

The risk to a stage career

McKellen’s memory then moved to central London, where Stewart told him about the offer. The exchange frames Hollywood success as a risk weighed against a British stage career.

“We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions.

My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’.

‘But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?'”

McKellen then continued his statement:

“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course)

and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.”

McKellen’s account makes the trade explicit: Stewart accepted the Hollywood risk, then converted international celebrity into work for film and theatre audiences. “Trekkies,” in his formulation, meant dedicated “Star Trek” fans; the classical circuit included Stratford-upon-Avon, London’s West End and Broadway.

America and the chancellor

McKellen closed on Stewart’s adopted home and a formal university role rooted in Yorkshire. In his statement, McKellen wrote:

“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin.

But he never forsook his origins: and 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.”

What changes for the X-Men roles?

Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” will reach theaters in December with Stewart as Magneto and McKellen as Professor X. The film gives the actors their final onscreen appearance together, according to McKellen’s account. For X-Men fans, the practical change is clear: the December release closes the actors’ shared screen partnership, with no later pairing announced.