West End theatres will dim their lights for two minutes next week in memory of Sir Patrick Stewart, following the actor's death aged 86. The tribute will take place at 7pm on Tuesday, November 3, with theatres across London joining together to honour the celebrated stage and screen star.
Stewart died at his home in Los Angeles on October 28, following a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
Stage career and screen fame
While he became internationally famous for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart first made his name as a respected stage actor, with a career spanning decades and numerous Shakespeare productions.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, appearing in up to 60 productions, and later came to international fame through Star Trek: The Next Generation and many other screen roles.
Olivier Awards tribute
In a tribute shared on Instagram, the Olivier Awards celebrated his contribution to theatre, saying: “Stewart made his professional stage debut in 1959 at the Theatre Royal in Bristol. Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and appeared in up to 60 productions.
“Knighted in 2010 for services to drama, Stewart received many awards for his work. He won Olivier Awards for Antony and Cleopatra (1979) and Hamlet (2009), while his one-man production of A Christmas Carol won Best Entertainment in 1994.”
Friends remember Stewart
Tributes have also poured in from fellow actors, including Sir Ian McKellen, who shared a heartfelt message remembering his long-standing friendship with Stewart.
McKellen described his friend as a proud Yorkshireman who “wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love”.
In a post on X, McKellen recalled first meeting Stewart when they were both young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company, before later crossing paths in central London.
He remembered advising Stewart to think carefully before accepting the offer to star in Star Trek, asking: “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?
“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 cinema successes (X-Men of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London's West End and on Broadway.”
