Ian McKellen Posts Instagram Tribute to Patrick Stewart
McKellen recalled Stewart's Star Trek offer, his Huddersfield chancellorship and an unseen farewell in Avengers: Doomsday, out this December.
Ian McKellen has posted a tribute to his close friend Patrick Stewart on Instagram, recalling the moment Stewart told him about the offer of a leading part in Star Trek. The post was reported by Variety.
McKellen singled out Stewart's appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University as his proudest achievement, and wrote that Stewart's farewell performance in Avengers: Doomsday is yet to be seen. The film is scheduled for release this December.
The two actors first met as young performers with the Royal Shakespeare Company around half a century ago. In 2000 they played Professor X and Magneto in X-Men, beginning their on-screen partnership, and returned together in X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), a cameo in The Wolverine (2013) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
Off screen, McKellen officiated Stewart's 2013 marriage to Sunny Ozell. In a 2020 interview with Wired, Stewart said the pair had adjoining trailers and spent time drinking tea together.
Both actors appear in Avengers: Doomsday. On stage, they performed together on Broadway in Waiting for Godot and No Man's Land in 2013, and again in No Man's Land in London's West End in 2016.
Quick answers
When is Avengers: Doomsday released?
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled for release this December.
How did Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart meet?
They first met as young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company around half a century ago.