Remembering Sir Patrick Stewart through the eyes of his best friend, Sir Ian McKellen

Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen shared a friendship that lasted for decades, and while millions of us knew them as Professor Charles and Magneto in the X-Men films, their bond off-screen was much more special.

Following Sir Patrick’s death at the age of 86, Sir Ian paid tribute to his longtime friend in a heartfelt statement. But how did it all start?

How Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen first met

Sir Ian wrote in his tribute, “We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions.” 

As Sir Ian wrote, they first met as young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Sir Patrick joined in 1966, while Sir Ian became part of the company in 1974. They later worked together in Tom Stoppard’s play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour in 1977, but they were not particularly close at the time.

Sir Ian recalled in his tribute, “My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over 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?’”

He added, “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.”

X-Men brought the friends closer

Although they had known each other for years, it was the X-Men films that really helped them get to know one another. Sir Patrick played Professor Charles Xavier, better known as Professor X, while Sir Ian portrayed Erik Lehnsherr, or Magneto. Their characters often found themselves on opposite sides because of their different views on how to protect mutantkind.

But off screen, they were getting along rather well. Speaking during a 2014 SAG-AFTRA Foundation conversation, Sir Patrick explained, “We have to thank ‘X-Men’ for the two of us really getting to know one another, because every day on an ‘X-Men’ movie you spend far more time sitting in your trailer than you do on the set doing a drop of work, and those trailers are extremely luxurious.” 

He continued, “And we had adjoining ones, so we sat around and talked and reminisced. And I discovered a lot about this chap and he about me, and we found that there were many, many overlaps in our careers and many areas where we had little in common.”

Sir Ian’s affection for his friend was also clear. He called Sir Patrick a “pussy cat” and added, “He’s irresistible.”

Their friendship soon became something we loved seeing. They were often affectionate at public appearances and were known for greeting each other with a kiss on the lips.

Their friendship went beyond acting

For Sir Ian, Sir Patrick’s Yorkshire identity was a defining part of who he was.

He wrote in his tribute, “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. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues.”

He added, “He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

Sir Ian also became close to Sir Patrick’s wife, Sunny Ozell, and officiated at their wedding in 2013. In his tribute, he wrote, “America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin.”

They continued sharing the stage

Even with their successful film careers, both actors remained closely connected to theatre. They also appeared together in several productions. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Sir Patrick played Vladimir while Sir Ian played Estragon. They performed in London’s West End in 2009 and on Broadway in 2013 and 2014.

They also starred in Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, first performing together in 2013 and returning to the play in London’s West End in 2016. Sir Patrick played Hirst, while Sir Ian played Spooner.

Sir Ian clearly loved sharing the stage with his friend. As reported in The Independent he said, “I love Patrick. I’ve just been working with him on Broadway on two plays and how could you not love Patrick?”

Although America became Sir Patrick’s adopted home, he never lost his connection to Yorkshire. Highlighting this Sir Ian wrote, “But he never forsook his origins: And the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.” 

He ended the tribute with a reference to Sir Patrick’s final film appearance, writing, “His farewell performance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is yet to be seen.”

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