Ian McKellen Remembers Patrick Stewart: 'A Man to Rely On, to Admire and Love'
Sir Ian McKellen has paid tribute to his friend of nearly half a century, Sir Patrick Stewart, remembering a Yorkshireman whose honesty made him someone people could count on. McKellen shared his tribute on Instagram on Thursday, USA Today, Page Six, TheWrap and Gulf News reported, a day after Stewart's death at 86 was announced.
Stewart died on Wednesday, 28 October, at his home in Los Angeles, following what his family described as a brief journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, USA Today reported. His wife, Sunny Ozell, was by his side.
Defined by Yorkshire
McKellen, 87, opened his tribute with the place that shaped his friend. "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," he wrote, according to TheWrap and Page Six.
"Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues," McKellen continued. "He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love."
Fifty years, from Stratford to the stars
The two actors first met as ambitious young performers with the Royal Shakespeare Company about half a century ago, Gulf News and Page Six reported, although they were not in the same productions at first. Their friendship grew through decades of stage and screen work, including the X-Men films, in which McKellen played Magneto opposite Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier.
McKellen also recalled trying to talk his friend out of the role that would make him famous around the world. When Stewart was offered Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, McKellen feared the part could pull him away from his theatre career in Britain, USA Today and Gulf News reported. Stewart described that warning in his 2023 memoir, Making It So, Page Six reported. Stewart took the risk anyway, McKellen wrote, and kept returning to the classical stage, in Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller and Beckett, TheWrap reported.
A friendship beyond the screen
The bond between the two men went well beyond shared credits. McKellen officiated at Stewart's wedding to Ozell in 2013, Gulf News reported. Stewart once described their friendship as a love affair, Page Six noted.
They will appear on screen together once more in Avengers: Doomsday, due in cinemas in December, TheWrap reported. McKellen has called it Stewart's farewell performance.
McKellen's tribute follows the tributes paid on Thursday by Stewart's Star Trek and X-Men co-stars. Where those messages honoured a captain and a professor, his remembered the friend behind them: a Yorkshireman who told people exactly what he thought and felt, and who could always be relied on.
Sources: USA Today, 30 October 2026; Page Six, 29 October 2026; TheWrap, 30 October 2026; Gulf News, 30 October 2026.