Patrick Stewart, of Star Trek and X-Men fame, has died at age 86.
Stewart rose from poverty in the UK to become an accomplished Shakespearean stage actor and then achieved global stardom as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV's Star Trek: The Next Generation and the telepathic Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films.
A post on his X account said that he had died after a "brief and poignant battle" with Alzheimer's and Lewy Body Dementia.
"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayers, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all," his family said in the post.
Stewart, knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to drama, died at his home in Los Angeles.
He became an actor at age 18 and gained acclaim on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company beginning in the 1960s. But it was not until after he was hired at age 47 for Star Trek: The Next Generation - a TV series that ran from 1987 to 1994 as a sequel to the original 1960s Star Trek - that he gained mainstream fame, acting into his 80s.
"His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre," the social media post read.
He became a critical part of another big-money franchise starting with the first entry X-Men in 2000 and followed by several more.
Stewart was married three times and had two children. His third marriage, in 2013, was to American musician Sunny Ozell.
