To many, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen represent a formidable mutant rivalry in the “X-Men” films or two of theater’s pre-eminent Shakespearean actors, but behind the curtain the pair shared something even more enduring: a friendship that spanned decades. Stewart died Wednesday at age 86 following a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. McKellen, Stewart’s artistic brother-in-arms, remembered him Thursday as “the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic.” “He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love,” McKellen said in a statement on social media.
The pair — about a year apart in age — met at England’s esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company, with Stewart joining in 1966 and McKellen in 1974. They starred in Tom Stoppard’s play “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” in 1977 in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company but weren’t close at the time. McKellen advised him against it.
Do you really want to risk — getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?’” he recalled. In a 2014 SAG-AFTRA Foundation conversation with the two actors, Stewart joked, “The only person who advised me not to do it is sitting to my left,” to the laughter of the crowd. Every single corner of it has not been unaffected by that,” he added.
McKellen said in his tribute that he was grateful Stewart took the role, nonetheless. It started with the first “X-Men” blockbuster in 2000, with Stewart playing the powerful mutant telepath Professor Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, and McKellen portraying the antihero Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, or Magneto, with the daunting power to manipulate metal and magnetic fields. The subsequent franchise films highlighted the complex bond between the characters, ideologically at odds over how to protect mutantkind.
On screen they sparred, but off set they bonded. And we had adjoining ones, so we sat around and talked and reminisced,” Stewart said on the 2014 panel. The two shared a friendship adored by fans, often seen greeting each other with an affectionate kiss on the lips whether on TV programs or on the red carpet.
Stewart told The Guardian that McKellen is “very close” to his wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, and that she was the one who suggested McKellen officiate their wedding. In 2013, he did just that. Stewart was also a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and praised activists like McKellen, who is gay.
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