Sir Patrick Stewart, the Yorkshire-born actor best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X in the X-Men films, has died at the age of 86, NPR reports.
A statement on his social media pages said he died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after a short illness with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
Stewart grew up in a difficult household and found refuge in school and in Shakespeare. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and first appeared on Broadway in 1970. He was teaching Shakespeare in California when he was cast in the new Star Trek series, which ran for seven seasons from 1987 and made him a global star. He later returned to the role in Picard, and also toured a celebrated one-man version of A Christmas Carol.
Source: NPR
