• Actor Patrick Stewart has died at 86.
• His rep announced he died after "a brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's and Lewy Body Dementia.
• Stewart was known for his stage work and roles in "Star Trek" and "X-Men."

Legendary actor Patrick Stewart, known for his roles in the "Star Trek" franchise and "X-Men" films, has died at age 86.

A post on his official Instagram page announced Steward died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, "in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia."

"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all," the post continued. "We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace."

In lieu of flowers, the family requested that memorial contributions be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund and Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources.

Born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, Stewart became interested in acting at age 12, when an English teacher introduced him to William Shakespeare's writing.

Although Stewart initially dropped out of school at age 15 to work as a journalist, he quickly abandoned that pursuit and began performing in theater productions. He graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1959.

At 26, Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he spent much of the 1960s establishing himself as a celebrated stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1971 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and would go on to perform in over a dozen stage adaptations of classics like "The Tempest" and "A Christmas Carol."

"I knew from before drama school that Shakespeare was my great love," Stewart told Playbill in 2010.

Alongside his stage work, the actor also launched his TV career in the '60s — but his big Hollywood break came two decades later, when he landed the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the series "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

The sci-fi show lasted for seven seasons between 1987 and 1994. Stewart also reprised his role for an episode of the show "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" as well as several more movies, including "Star Trek Generations" (1994), "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996), "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998), and "Star Trek: Nemesis" (2002). He also did voice work for "Star Trek" video games.

Stewart would go on to star in another popular franchise, Sony's "X-Men," making his debut as Professor Charles Xavier, a telepathic mutant and founder of the X-Men, in the 2000 movie "X-Men."

Ian McKellen, who was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the '60s and '70s, starred opposite Stewart in the original "X-Men" series as the powerful mutant Magneto.

Despite playing onscreen rivals, the two actors became close friends in real life, with McKellen officiating Stewart's 2013 wedding to singer Sunny Ozell in Reno, Nevada.

"We became good friends as a result of shooting multimillion-dollar adventure movies," Stewart later told NPR of McKellen.

Stewart's most recent roles included voice work for the animated series "American Dad!" and the 2026 movie "The Sheep Detectives." He reprised his role as Jean-Luc Picard from 2020 to 2023 in the series "Star Trek: Picard," and returned as Charles Xavier in 2017's "Logan," 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and the forthcoming Marvel film "Avengers: Doomsday," out this December. The blockbuster will mark his final onscreen appearance.

Despite starring in multimillion-dollar movie franchises, Stewart returned to the stage throughout his career. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Macbeth in the 2008 Broadway revival and starred opposite McKellen in two-play repertory productions of "Waiting for Godot" and "No Man's Land" in 2013 and 2014.

"I have often heard actors say, 'I can't afford to go back to the theater,'" Stewart told NPR. "I look at a lot of the work that I do in film and television — which I love — but, at the same time, it underwrites and supports the other work that I want to do."

Stewart did not see his onscreen work and his stage work as at odds; on the contrary, he described his two most recognizable roles, Picard and Xavier, as "entirely complementary" to his theater career.

"The techniques are different, and the rhythm and pattern of the work are different, but the approach to how I act doesn't change — the fundamental thing is to pursue the truth," he told Playbill.

Stewart is survived by Ozell and his two children, Daniel Stewart and Sophia Stewart, from his first marriage to Sheila Falconer.

• A24's new documentary "You Can See Everything" follows Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans.
• The movie features an early scene of full-frontal nudity while Evans is showering.
• Director Lance Oppenheim said the scene was Evans' idea and "he didn't care about being seen naked."

In "You Can See Everything," one person apparently took the movie's title to a physical extreme.

A24's twisty new documentary is ostensibly focused on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, one of Silicon Valley's most infamous felons — yet it's her longtime partner, William "Billy" Evans, who frequently steals the show.

Evans' comfort in front of the camera is evident when the couple invites co-directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim to capture intimate moments in their home life, just a few weeks before Holmes is scheduled to begin an 11-year prison sentence.

In fact, according to Oppenheim, Evans proactively suggested one of the movie's buzziest and most revealing moments: a full-frontal shot of Evans in the shower.

"We were in the car ride on the way back from the gym, and I said to Billy, 'We will give you some time to shower,'" the filmmaker said in a recent interview with GQ. "And Billy responded, 'Want to film me showering?' I offered to film him in a way that could avoid seeing his genitals, but Billy said he didn't care about being seen naked."

Oppenheim speculated that Evans was inspired to give the audience "full access," though he admitted that he was personally baffled by the choice.

"There's a camera in the bathroom, there's a camera that was on Nathan, there's a camera outside the bathroom, and there's an interaction that we see after Billy leaves where he sort of looks at the camera and smiles," Oppenheim said. "So I don't know what that means, but I feel like there's enough stuff in there that gives me the impression that maybe he was excited that people could see everything and that there was full access, I guess. But it really beats me, honestly."

Oppenheim said that, to his knowledge, neither Holmes nor Evans has seen the movie. Evans has not commented publicly on his portrayal, and he did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

"We haven't talked with Billy in a bit now," Oppenheim told GQ. "You sort of see it in the film. Billy can be intense, and there were a lot of conversations he had about the future of the film and the release of the film that made us uncomfortable. So contact broke down for a bit."

Holmes reports to prison about halfway through "You Can See Everything," though Fielder and Oppenheim continue to film Evans as he adjusts to life as a single dad and aspiring entrepreneur; at one point, Evans tells Fielder that he's planning to build another company off the back of Theranos and "do it all again."

In 2025, The New York Times and NPR reported that Evans had raised millions for a new blood-testing startup called Haemanthus.

Evans also boasts that he's in charge of running Holmes' social media while she's incarcerated, telling Fielder that he has power of attorney. "I can literally do whatever," he says.

As the Bristol studio behind 'Wallace & Gromit' and 'Shaun the Sheep' turns 50, employee-owned Aardman is betting that handmade animation, flexible partnerships and a Halloween-ready third Shaun feature can sustain its independence.