Celebrity Deaths
Ian McKellen’s Tribute Reveals How Patrick Stewart Ignored His Warning and Changed Hollywood Forever
Ian McKellen honors his lifelong friend Patrick Stewart, reflecting on their Royal Shakespeare Company roots and Stewart’s legendary career.
Iconic actor Ian McKellen took to social media on October 29 to share a beautiful tribute honoring his close friend and colleague, Patrick Stewart. The two men had been friends for many years, and fans knew that McKellen would have thoughts to share after Stewart’s death on October 28.
McKellen noted in his Instagram tribute that he and Stewart met as “ambitious young actors” while with the Royal Shakespeare Company about 50 years ago. Although they met then, McKellen explained it wasn’t until a few years later that he reconnected with Stewart and formed his “first strong memory” of him.
The two saw each other in central London, and Stewart mentioned he had been offered a significant part on Star Trek. McKellen asked, “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk — getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”
McKellen added, “Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of successes…and in great classical plays.”
While Stewart considered the United States his “adopted home,” McKellen wrote, the Star Trek and X-Men star “never forsook his origins.” McKellen also suggested that Stewart’s appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire was his friend’s “proudest achievement.”
The photo that McKellen included in his Instagram tribute showed Stewart sitting in a chair, looking regal in the ceremonial academic regalia of the University of Huddersfield, an institution where he served as chancellor from 2004 to 2015.
As a post on the university’s Facebook page noted, in addition to serving as chancellor from 2004 to 2015, Stewart continued his connection to the institution as Emeritus Chancellor after 2015.
The post shared that Stewart had been “a familiar presence on campus, inspiring generations of students with his warmth, wisdom and generosity.”
McKellen also noted in his tribute to his close friend that Stewart’s final performance is “yet to be seen.” That will come in Avengers: Doomsday, which Marvel indicates hits theaters on December 18.
The Instagram post on McKellen’s page pulled in over 2 million likes and 14,500 comments in the hours after it was shared.
One fan noted, “After news of Sir Patrick’s passing, the first thing I thought about was ‘but Sir Ian will be heartbroken,’ your friendship and love for each other was an example for humanity.”
The friendship that McKellen and Stewart developed, and McKellen’s subsequent tribute to his dear friend, was on the minds of many heartbroken fans in the hours after learning of the Star Trek icon’s death.
