Patrick Stewart Said He’d Never Retire From Acting in Final Interview: “I’ll Always and Forever Be an Actor”

Stewart died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles at 86 following “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia,” longtime spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak announced. Patrick Stewart said in his final interview before his death that he'd never retire from acting. He died at 86. In his final interview before his death, Patrick Stewart said he never wanted to retire from acting. Speaking with TV Insider in July to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, the actor discussed the projects on his slate, including his narration of Shakespeare’s sonnets for an audiobook and the reprisal of his X-Men role of Prof. Charles Xavier in Avengers: Doomsday, which will be his last film.

“As any actor my age will tell you, there are fewer and fewer available roles as we get older,” Stewart said. “That being said, I still continue to receive interesting offers and I love being challenged by new work, like voicing a pig’s head in Riz Ahmed‘s brilliant new series Bait.” He added, “I can’t imagine ever officially ‘retiring.’ I’ll always and forever be an actor.” “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