It is the end of an illustrious era as legendary Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy of greatness
His co-stars have led tributes, with William Shatner saying that Stewart “stood for the best of us”
While X-Men actor Hugh Jackman says “we lost one of the greats of stage and screen”
Stewart died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to a statement shared on his social media
The award-winning star of stage and screen had a career spanning decades – from the Royal Shakespeare Company, to the X-Men franchise
His appeal crossed generations, and younger fans will have discovered his work on streaming platforms, writes our culture correspondent
His dealth comes in the same week as another Star Trek actor passed away.Walter Koenig, who played the spirited Russian crewman Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek TV series, died aged 90.
The pair worked together on the 1994 film, Star Trek Generations.
The son of a textile worker mother and a father who was a regimental sergeant major in the British army, Patrick Stewart began his career performing in amateur dramatics in his home town of Mirfield, as well as alongside Brian Blessed in Calder Valley summer theatre workshops.
His talent as a teenager was clear, according to a local newspaper account – on display at the exhibition – of his last performance before he left for Bristol in 1957 when he was 17.
“As has now come to be expected, he played his part with considerable ease and was clearly audible,” wrote the Mirfield Reporter’s theatre critic in a lukewarm review of the local drama club’s production of Ronald Jeans’ comedy Young Wives’ Tale.
Despite the initial rejections after leaving theatre school, work was soon flowing Sir Patrick’s way.
He landed his first professional role playing Tom Morgan in Treasure Island at Lincoln’s Theatre Royal in 1959 before working at the Sheffield Playhouse for 18 months.
