Ian McKellen was among the stars paying tribute to Patrick Stewart on Thursday, honoring his beloved friend one day after the legendary stage and screen actor died at the age of 86.
McKellen, 87, reflected on the pair’s friendship of more than five decades and admitted that he once gave Stewart misguided advice about accepting the Star Trek role that would transform him into an international star.
McKellen would later follow Stewart into the X-Men franchise, joining him in the 2000 film. He went on to achieve worldwide fame of his own as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
McKellen honored his late friend by sharing a stately photo on Instagram of Stewart looking refined in academic robes at the University of Huddersfield.
“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt,” McKellen wrote. “Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”
The X-Men star remembered first meeting Stewart as an “ambitious young actor” while both were working with the Royal Shakespeare Company “half a century ago,” although they were appearing in separate productions.
Ian McKellen was among the stars honoring the late Patrick Stewart when he paid tribute to his cherished friend on Thursday, one day after the stage and screen icon died at 86; above, in London in 2018
Stewart and McKellen appeared together in several X-Men movies and multiple theater productions; above, in X-Men: The Last Stand with Halle Berry (L) and Hugh Jackman (second to right)
McKellen said another defining moment in their relationship came when they met in London and Stewart told him he had been offered “a leading part in Star Trek.”
“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 recalled asking him.
“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did,” McKellen wrote, noting that Stewart’s decision benefited not only his devoted Trekkies but also film and theater audiences. Stewart used his international fame to lead a run of successful movies, including “X-Men,” while continuing to perform major works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett in Stratford-upon-Avon, London’s West End and on Broadway.
McKellen described the United States as Stewart’s “adopted home,” where he met his beloved wife, Sunny, who cared for him “through sickness and health, through thick and thin.”
Even after settling in America, however, Stewart remained deeply connected to his roots. McKellen said one of the proudest achievements of “the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic” was being appointed Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield in Yorkshire.
McKellen ended his tribute by pointing out that Stewart’s “farewell performance” in “Avengers: Doomsday” has yet to be seen.
McKellen is also part of the upcoming superhero movie.
After their early work in the theater, McKellen and Stewart reunited onstage later in their careers for several acclaimed productions.
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McKellen remembered his late friend on Instagram with a formal photograph of Stewart wearing academic robes at the University of Huddersfield; above, in London in January 2020
McKellen recalled an early conversation in their friendship, when Stewart told him he had been offered a major role in Star Trek—a proposal the Lord of the Rings star initially viewed with doubt
The actors later shared the stage in a 2009 London production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (above). They reprised their roles in a Broadway double bill of Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land in 2013 and 2014, before bringing No Man’s Land to London in 2016
![In a 2020 Wired interview, Stewart admitted: 'I’ll be frank with you – I’m in love with [him]. But then, so is my wife in love with him, too, so that’s all right'; Above, Stewart and McKellen in London in 2020](https://i.dailymail.com/1s/2026/10/30/08/112180457-16251217-In_a_2020_Wired_interview_Stewart_admitted_I_ll_be_frank_with_yo-a-53_1793350392796.jpg)
In a 2020 Wired interview, Stewart said: “I’ll be frank with you – I’m in love with [him]. But then, so is my wife in love with him, too, so that’s all right”; above, Stewart and McKellen in London in 2020
McKellen officiated Stewart’s 2013 wedding to his third wife, Sunny Ozell, on the banks of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. He registered as a minister with the Universal Life Church, which promotes freedom of religion, so he could conduct the ceremony
In 2009, they starred in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in London, and then in 2013 and 2014 they reprised their roles on Broadway.
The two actors appeared in an acclaimed double production of both Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land.
In 2016, they returned to London’s West End, this time to reprise No Man’s Land on stage.
In a 2020 interview with Wired, Stewart recalled how his friendship with McKellen deepened when they starred in X-Men at the turn of the century.
‘We had adjoining trailers. On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera. So Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea – and maybe, in the afternoon, something a little stronger – and we got to know one another, and the charm of it was that we found we had so much in common,’ he recalled.
Elsewhere in the interview, Stewart added: ‘I’ll be frank with you – I’m in love with [him]. But then, so is my wife in love with him, too, so that’s all right.’
Stewart and McKellen showed off their friendly affection in public, where they would sometimes kiss on the lips for photographers and fans.
McKellen went on to officiate Stewart’s wedding with his third wife, Sunny Ozell, in 2013 on the banks of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
McKellen registered as a minister with the Universal Life Church, which celebrates freedom of religion, in order to officiate the ceremony.