This year has been a year of shocking celebrity deaths, and this one personally hits me very hard. Patrick Stewart, the lead actor in the iconic television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, has passed away from Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 86 years old. He was one of the most beloved actors for science fiction and superhero films and television with a career that spanned both live action and animation.
The only role that possibly rivals his iconic role as Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation is his most famous superhero role, Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies. He also portrayed a major character in the 1984 Dune film. When it comes to science fiction and superhero film and television, his commanding authoritative prescence made him the go-to actor to play “the leader” of the sci-fi/superhero group.
Given this site’s focus as an animation site, we have to point out his contributions as a an animation voice actor. Some notable voice acting roles include CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock in American Dad, Rameses’ father Pharaoh Seti I in The Prince of Egypt, and King Goobot V in the Jimmy Neutron movie. He also dubbed two Japanese anime films, portraying Lord Yupa in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Lloyd Steam from Steamboy
Patrick Stewart was truely one of the most legendary actors in science fiction and superhero media and he will be missed dearly. He was one of the faces of Star Trek and X-Men, and now Avengers Doomsdaywill be his last film and his last time portraying Professor Xavier. This fact will add lots of emotional weight to this movie. “All Good Things…” the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generationserves as a fitting epithet as everyone’s time on this Earth is finite. As a huge fan of Star Trekand X-Men, this is some crushing news.
Discuss this article on the Toonzone Forums!
