Ian McKellen Pays Tribute to Patrick Stewart After Reported Death

McKellen’s remembrance focused on the personal bond that developed between the two actors over approximately five decades. They first met as young performers working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, according to the reports describing the tribute, although they were not in the same productions at that time.

That early stage connection later became a prominent screen partnership. McKellen and Stewart appeared together in the X-Men film series, with McKellen playing Magneto and Stewart portraying Professor X. Their collaboration linked a long theatrical association with one of the best-known film franchises covered in the supplied reports.

McKellen’s description of Stewart went beyond their professional work. He wrote that Stewart was “a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love,” a line repeated across coverage by The Hindu, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Esquire, The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets. The wording presented the relationship as one grounded in trust and affection as well as shared performances.

The tribute was shared on social media. The Hindu identifies Instagram, while SlashFilm refers to social media including X/Twitter; the available material does not establish the precise original venue or whether the same statement appeared on both platforms.

The supplied reports state that Stewart died at 86. The Hindu separately reports that he died on October 28, 2026, at his Los Angeles home, but that date and location come from a single source and remain attributed here. The material does not establish the circumstances of his death or include an official statement confirming it, leaving McKellen’s tribute as the central documented personal response in the available coverage.