Remembering Sir Patrick Stewart

News to report sad news from the entertainment world that Patrick Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86. This is according to reporting from many outlets, including TMZ, who we work hand in hand with. Of course, he's known for Star Trek and X-Men actor Patrick Stewart, Sir Patrick Stewart passing away. And we have this from his own social media. Let's pull this up for you live right now. it says in lieu of flowers this was just posted 18 minutes ago in lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's disease research center fund and Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources and they put their links in the bio and you're seeing of course the iconic actor there and then let me take you to TMZ's page here simply with the headline Sir Patrick Stewart dead at 86 Star Trek and X-Men actor I want to as we work to get some more information on this I'm going to pull back up just his Instagram page there as tributes are just beginning to pour in of course Patrick Stewart veteran actor best known for his roles in the Star Trek and X-Men franchise has died according to a post on his social media Yeah, I'm reading from TMZ right now. The official statement says he passed away Monday in the care of his loving wife, Sunny, after a brief battle with Alzheimer's. So the story is just developing right now, and we're working to get some more information for you. And as we're looking here, you're seeing people already taking to social media. Official Carly King writes, best captain ever. May his beautiful soul rest in peace. Trace Dominguez says he may have been human, but Patrick Stewart embodied the idea to live long and prosper, of course. So I'm going to be interested to see what William Shatner has to say. And no doubt this is just such a loss for everybody. Eighty six years old Sir Patrick Stewart passing away. I do believe we're working to get some more information. perhaps uh tmz is going to be hopping on with us soon i i'm going to send them a quick note to see if they can't join us to provide some more information as i know that their newsroom our newsroom here at fox 11 is working to get some more information while we do that we're going to step away for our uh our next two minute break and we'll have more for you right after this stay with us we're back and we have the breaking news uh the loss of sir uh patrick stewart actor known of course for Star Trek and the X-Men franchises died today at the age of 86. If you're watching us on Fox 11, our coverage continues on Fox Local Los Angeles. Just search Fox Local on your smart TV and you will continue to watch our coverage. Thanks so much for watching. Our coverage continues at 1258. And we are continuing with the breaking news that we're following here. We have more of a statement and a better idea of how patrick stewart passed away this is what his family has posted on his social media a lengthy post here i'm going to go ahead and read it it says we announce with great sorrow the passing of sir patrick stewart yesterday at his home in los angeles 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. We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, and enduring reminder of his invincible grace. A son of Murfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he traveled from the Royal Shakespeare Company to an equally acclaimed career spanning six decades on broadway the silver screen and television the statement goes on to say his voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre he explored the human condition and all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the marvel cinematic universe but into science fiction's most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise. His professional accomplishments were humbly matched by his philanthropy and activism on behalf of human rights, survivors of domestic violence, global refugees, veterans, mental health services, and animal welfare, particularly his cherished foster pitties. He was a knight, chancellor, motor sport enthusiast and lifelong Huddersfield football fan. He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to every role in his art and life. Like me, Jean-Luc has lived an unusual life that has taken him far beyond the bounds of normal human experience. But he is also someone who has remained true to his earthbound roots, for they are what give him his identity. In the end, he feels the call of home. So do I, as do I. That is the quote that this family statement ends with that quote, of course, from Patrick Stewart himself and his memoir, making it so a memoir. Of course, we do have our entertainment reporter here at Fox Local Los Angeles, Amanda Salas. She was in the newsroom when this broke just moments ago, And she's joining me here now on set. And I want to be able to pull up. Hi, there's some of that video as well of Patrick Stewart, while you're reminiscing about the life and the career that he had. Marla, this is one of those losses of the stars going to shine a little bright, a little extra bright now that we know he's up there in the sky. But I tell you, it's one of these losses that just makes you gasp because you feel like he is part of your family. And I'm going to say it. I think 86 still sounds so young when you when you hear. I mean, I'm not going to argue with that. He was surrounded by family and friends. He was surrounded by music and prayer. It's it's very sad to hear that he had to battle not only Alzheimer's, but Lewy body dementia as well. 60 years on stage and screen he started in England on stage people used to say that he brought a sense of Shakespeare to Star Trek these two worlds colliding his voice is a nostalgic sound of most of our childhoods um Gene Roddenberry was the creator of the original Star Trek and apparently allegedly Gene Roddenberry was very hard to impress he was referred to even described as persnickety and there was something about Sir Patrick Stewart that captured the heart of Gene Roddenberry and and then he became a legend a stage actor became became a screen success and a global sensation absolutely and uh again we're just showing some of the images of him over the years this is uh with formerly he was one of our colleagues Alex Michelson who was a huge Trekkie fan I was honored to be able to interview him uh had you interviewed him before on the carpet briefly okay and he just had this persona that you just felt like you were in the presence of such greatness almost like a royal oh yeah because he was right in his own right and and knighted but he just had this presence where you even as somebody who interviews celebrities you get starstruck he's one of those and but he always maintained a humble nature about him he gave you his time he gave you his attention i think people should also know he was such an advocate in 2006 he made a video against domestic violence oh so he was very much into charity and activism like you mentioned uh three years ago make it so his memoir that that came out and i'm always so glad when a legend like Patrick Sir Patrick Stewart comes out with a memoir because they get to share their story in their own words And I also was struck by the fact in the family announcement that he passed away yesterday and, you know, they took some time before they put out this news. Did we know that he was battling Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia? Not specific details, but we did know that he was going through his own health battle and he had stayed a little bit out of the limelight as of recent recently one thing we also know about him was as successful as he was he never took anything for granted and i think that every day was he considered it a blessing both personally and professionally in fact people should know the first couple seasons uh of Star Trek he was still living out of a suitcase because he wasn't sure if the show was going to be gosh imagine that wow Picard not knowing if the show was going to be a success and it's one of the most successful series of our time absolutely uh and here's just his image i mean just when you look at him he has this stature about him right and and you refer to his his aura when your aura, yeah absolutely, he has two children, I wonder what the father role that he played, he played a lot of roles but I wonder the fatherly role, I wonder what he was like as a dad, um also let's not forget huge in X-Men, Charles Xavier in X-Men as well, a huge series as well, and we know that we're getting more uh X-Men news now with this new MCU around us, this new Avengers Doomsday film that's coming out, so what will the future of X-Men do, and I wonder if they will pay tribute to him, absolutely, you know and William Shatner is well into his 90s, he was here at uh Fox 11 not long ago, I got to sit down with him and and I'm um obviously he is going to be so saddened by this news as anyone would be, um so it's going to be interesting to see what his response is and overall just in Hollywood, I trust that he has a star uh on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so almost positive I'm sure fans are going there to to pay their respects, absolutely, and and Trekkies yes, all as Trekkies as we lovingly call them this is a big loss for the Trekkie community, right, you know that there is a Star Trek community and um listen, at the end of the day he definitely lived long and he prospered, he did live long and he prospered, and the family statement alluded to that uh and that as it should, I'm going to bring on my producer uh Jasmine Sani, I know she's working hard behind the scenes just to get more reaction uh have we heard from the likes of William Shatner, anyone in that realm uh yeah go ahead Jasmine, I've just checked his social media's William Shatner's, I do not see a statement yet but I do know he recently posted about one to two hours ago so he is active on social media likely responding to the news as surprising as it is for him as it is for us okay where is his star located oh that's a good question I'm not sure where his star is I can check for you guys yeah and Jasmine uh she's just working her tail off behind the scenes uh i'm let me just see what this is here oh so marvel studios is out with just to let you guys know Gina Silva is heading to the walk of fame to give us a live report from his star okay very good on the fly there and the MCU has spoken yeah and so can we pull up some of this i know you were working to get this all nice and pretty for our viewers here is this a marvel studio statement Charles Xavier on marvel.com this is what i'm seeing yes feel free to all right i'm going to pull this up just so that we can look at this um marvel studios is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart the legendary english actor who brought professor Charles Xavier to life he was 86 Stewart made his debut as Professor X in 2000's X-Men where he embodied the composure class and wisdom of the beloved telepathic mutant mentor of the X-Men For more than 25 years, he brought gravitas and profundity to the role, earning fans across the globe and helping to transform superhero storytelling forever. You talk about the roles in multiple X-Men films. In addition to his work as Professor X, Stewart was also known for his celebrated performances on Star Trek, of course. They also note his range knew no bounds, stretching from a comedic role in Robin Hood. Men in Tights to a chilling performance in Green Room and the statement goes on uh devoted much of his career to the works of William Shakespeare which he performed on stage and on screen and he spent many years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Amanda that's what you were referring to the fact that he got his start on stage yeah iambic pentameter kicked off his career for Shakespeare and in fact when they shot the pilot for Star Trek and they took a 10 week break he said he made more on that 10 week break than he ever did as a stage actor in London oh my goodness wow and in 2010 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth yeah and and as he should have been yes he a class act all the way it's seriously going to be missed again you could hear the newsroom gasp hearing that what we're owning his co-star just on October 25th passed away so this is two big losses oh gosh Star Trek actors oh gosh yeah thank you for that i forgot to mention that so that's important to note as well uh what was your initial reaction you know you always not second guess it but you just have to see it for yourself right so i had to go on the computer and of course i see TMZ and i see you know dead at 86 and it it really hits you and it sets in then yeah but you know there's just certain people like Dolly Parton ah Betty White yes and now Sir Patrick Stewart where you just feel like they're going to live forever and i think the truth is their legacy and their talents are going to live forever their projects and it looks like uh here we go let's pull this up now uh this is the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame uh this is the 70 so it's 7021 Hollywood Boulevard so the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard where the star is located oh wow great location right near Franklin yeah there you go and so Gina Silva uh our reporter is headed to the star to get fan reaction and uh there's no doubt the costumes are coming out and you know no question that someone was going to be this for Halloween and so yeah the costumes readily available and if you're a Trekkie uh you you you take this very seriously absolutely and i mean think about it he got his breakout role in 1966 so you're talking about someone who truly stood the test of time decades and still you know from the Star Trek world to the MCU i mean his talent knew no bounds well we're we're combing through i'm looking down because we have all these monitors here and uh we're combing through just to get some more reaction and see what we can dig up uh it's one of those comments on uh on his on this post on yeah let's let's see if we can uh here i'm sorry i'm let me uh do this and do that here we go um some of the comments as Jasmine our producer works to get this she's so good in terms of being able to comb through these yeah thank you Jasmine uh so miss Jamie Murray beautiful man beloved radiant and wise i hope that your arrival in the good place is a huge celebration and that Dolly is there to welcome you flirt with you and keep that sparkle in your eye that's touching that is touching very long comments uh there there is no doubt that this is just reverberating throughout the Trekkie and X-Men and Marvel universe right now as fans get word of his passing this is a long comment here we all thought he was pulling our leg until we see the adverts for the brand new so we Star Trek he was a lovely lovely man an amazing captain let's see who else do we have Lauren Laverne what a life i was lucky enough to interview him and will never forget it thinking of his family and friends today cult of the salt it's impossible to commit no mistakes and still lose that is not weakness that is life a quote uh from i trust him himself and uh yeah the the comments are just pouring in right now wow that's you know when the the fans and the industry all come together to pay their respects to someone he truly was and and still is one of the greats yes and uh once Gina Silva arrives at his star on Hollywood Boulevard we will absolutely bring her on and uh the fans will be there and they will bring their flowers and anything else Star Trek related or X-Men related i i had to familiarize myself with Lewy body dementia yeah who else passed away from that uh Robin Williams as well well he had he had he had i i want to fact check myself but um he he uh from the Bay Area from lived in San Francisco and i was uh reporting there uh at the time of his of his death and i do remember because it highlighted i hadn't heard of it right it highlighted it so let me just make sure i'm getting that correct yes uh he suffered from an undiagnosed severe neurodegenerative disorder called Lewy body dementia yes i you know Robin and now Sir Patrick Stewart i mean this is going to put more awareness on that for sure absolutely and and of course he he died by suicide yes um but that was he suffered from it yeah absolutely so and and that's in reference to Robin Williams yeah so this will put more of a light on it in Alzheimer's we know that so many families are impacted by it and it's uh i was also struck by in the family statement they said his poignant journey um with it too because obviously it's a fight that they've ultimately did behind the scenes uh and uh it is it's just it's it is such a loss and he's also one of those that seems that he would live forever absolutely also you know like you were saying fighting behind the scenes you never know what someone is going through and we we saw this firsthand a few years ago with Chadwick Boseman you know our very own Black Panther fighting a cancer battle behind the scenes not just the battles on the big screen and so so many of these big Hollywood heavyweights behind the scenes are going through these life-altering and debilitating diseases absolutely all right i'm going to bring on Jasmine one more time uh Jasmine are we uh efforting more interviews i'm sure we are uh and if we want to take a break i see Nithya Raman up to a podium right now. We've been following the mayor's race closely. Just to let you guys know, 1.30 p.m., Jonah Eman from TMZ will be joining us. So we will have, TMZ will be joining us for this conversation and this dialogue. And I do believe we can take a commercial break here. Okay. All right. We'll step away for a quick two minutes here. And Amanda, thank you. Thank you for providing, you help so much. You provide so much context. Our coverage of the loss of Sir Patrick Stewart will continue. We're going to step away for a quick two-minute break. We'll have more for you right after this. Stay with us.