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Sir Patrick Stewart, who spent 16 years as a core member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon before finding worldwide fame as Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, has died aged 86. His representative said he died on Wednesday 28 October at his home in Los Angeles, cared for by his wife, Sunny Ozell, after living with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
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Sixteen years with the RSC
Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1940, Stewart joined the RSC in 1966 and stayed as a core member of the company until 1982. He began in supporting roles in Sir Peter Hall’s ensemble and went on to play more than 30 productions for the company, growing into its great classical parts: Shylock, Henry IV and Leontes in The Winter’s Tale on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage in 1981.
He never really left. In 2006 he came back to Stratford for the RSC’s Complete Works festival, playing Antony in Antony and Cleopatra (he had played Enobarbus twice for the company) and Prospero in Rupert Goold’s production of The Tempest. Two years later he played Claudius and the Ghost in Hamlet opposite David Tennant, at the Courtyard Theatre while the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was being rebuilt, and in 2011 he was back as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The company later made him an Honorary Associate Artist.
The RSC’s tribute
The RSC’s co-artistic directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, called him “a colossus of both stage and screen” and one of the finest classical Shakespearean actors of his generation, and said he stayed deeply connected to Stratford and the company throughout his career, the Stratford Herald reported. Former artistic director Gregory Doran, who directed his Antony, described him as a theatre actor to his bones.
From Stratford to the Enterprise
To most of the world he was Captain Picard, in seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 to 1994), four films and Star Trek: Picard (2020 to 2023), and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films from 2000. He was knighted in 2010 for services to drama, was nominated for a Tony award for Macbeth on Broadway in 2008, and told his own story in the memoir Making It So in 2023. Sir Ian McKellen, who first met him when both were young actors at the RSC and later starred with him in X-Men and on stage, led the tributes to his friend.
He is survived by his wife, Sunny Ozell, and his children, Daniel and Sophie.
Remembering him in Stratford
We’ve told the full story of his years in Stratford, role by role, in Sir Patrick Stewart’s Stratford: his RSC years, 1966 to 2011.
On 30 October the RSC published its own tribute, with words from its co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, former artistic director Greg Doran and associate artist Joseph Millson, and photographs of him in RSC roles from 1968 to 2011.
No book of condolence or memorial in Stratford has been announced yet. We’ll add details here if the RSC or the town arranges one. The RSC’s free exhibition at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre tells the story of the company he served for so long: see our guide to visiting the RSC.
Sir Patrick lived with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. If dementia affects your family, our guide to dementia support in Stratford-upon-Avon lists the cafés, clubs, day care and carers’ groups that meet in and around the town, and who to call for help.
Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
