Patrick Stewart dies, Captain Picard from 'Star Trek'

BarcelonaSir Patrick Stewart, a giant of modern theatre and cinema, has died at 86, as announced by his spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak. The actor passed away on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after a "brief and difficult struggle with Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia". Stewart, forged in London theatre, brought a Shakespearean touch to two major fantasy cinema franchises: Star Trek, where he played Captain Picard in series and films, and the X-Men saga, where he was Professor Charles Xavier, a role he reprised last year during the filming of the new installment of The Avengers: Doomsday, yet to be released.

"He was accompanied by the warmth of family and friends, surrounded by music, prayers, tears, laughter, and the kind of deep emotions that only he could inspire after a life of complete devotion to all of us," writes Bush Novak. "We will forever hold in mind the peace that was reflected in his face, a reminder of his invincible grace."

Stewart was one of the great heroes of modern fantasy, an actor who knew how to imprint elegance, nobility, and depth onto his characters and transcend the conventions of the genre. Instead of muscles and violence, he brought intelligence, courage, and a sharp sense of humor. However, nothing in his early career suggested that he would end up being an icon of fantasy cinema, as for the first decades of his career, Stewart was essentially a classical theatre actor, more familiar with the works of Shakespeare than with the crew of the Enterprise or Marvel comics.

An unexpected success

Born in Mirfield (England) in 1940, Stewart made his professional theater debut in 1959 and in 1966 joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained until 1982. The actor alternated the Shakespearean repertoire with occasional work on British television and earned a notable prestige that led him to receive, in 1987, an offer from an American producer to lead the attempt to relaunch the series Star Trek. Unaware of its impact on popular culture and with no interest in the genre, he accepted a six-year contract only because the job was well paid and because his agent assured him that the series would be a failure and would not make it past the first season.

The success of Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, was immediate, and the charisma of Stewart and the new crew of the Enterprise spread the trekkie passion to a new generation of fans. The actor led the series for seven seasons and made the jump to cinema in 1994 with Star Trek: Generations, the first of the four cinematic installments of the franchise that Stewart starred in.

All the qualities that Stewart displayed as Captain Picard –and, of course, his bald head– made the actor the only possible candidate to play Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men, leader and patriarch of the mutant superhero group. This role, which he assumed in nine Marvel films since 2000, allowed him to reunite with an old friend, Ian McKellen, who played Xavier's nemesis in the X-Men universe, Magneto. Together with Hugh Jackman's Logan, Professor X became the cornerstone of the franchise, and Stewart a kind of moral compass of heroic fiction of the last decades.

Without disowning his commercial work, Stewart alternated these jobs with others less popular in film and television, but especially in the theater, his great passion. He performed works by Shakespeare, but also by other authors such as Samuel Beckett, and even monologues like his version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, for which he won the Lawrence Olivier award in 1994. An activist for LGTBI community rights and other causes, he defined himself as a socialist and was linked to the United Kingdom's Labour Party.