Ian McKellen says Patrick Stewart was a man 'to rely on, to admire and in my case, love' in touching tribute following his death

Sir Ian McKellen has shared a heart-breaking tribute to his long-time friend Sir Patrick Stewart following his death aged 86.

The X-Men star sadly passed away on 28 October at his Los Angeles home, ‘following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia’.

A statement shared on Stewart’s Instagram page said that his wife Sunny Ozell was by his side.

"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter, and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” the statement continued.

Following the tragic news, McKellen has shared a touching tribute to his friend.

In a post on Instagram, he wrote: “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 wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

The post went on to share that they first crossed paths at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s but didn’t star in any of the same productions.

“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,” he continued

“‘But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?’ 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.

“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. 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 concluded the post by adding: “His farewell performance in Avengers: Doomsday is yet to be seen.”

After first meeting in the 1970s, the pair struck up a close friendship after both joining the X-Men franchise, with Stewart playing Professor Charles Xavier and McKellen taking on the role of Magneto.

In 2009, they appeared on stage together in a production of Waiting for Godot and later, in 2013, No Man's Land.

Their final onscreen appearance together will be in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to hit cinemas in December.