Hugh Jackman shared an emotional farewell to his friend and longtime X-Men costar Patrick Stewart after Stewart’s death on October 28. According to a statement from Stewart’s spokesperson shared via People, the iconic British actor died at his home in Los Angeles “in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny, following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.”
Shortly after Stewart’s death was shared publicly, Jackman took to his Instagram page to acknowledge the devastating loss. He wrote, “We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today. And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man.”
Jackman added, “I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days.”
Hugh Jackman Patrick Stewart attend the Berlin Film Festival in 2017. FMB / WENN.com / MEGA
According to /Film, Stewart and Jackman first met on the movie set of the 2000 film X-Men. Interestingly, Jackman wasn’t supposed to play Wolverine. He stepped in after the actor originally slated to have the part, Dougray Scott, had scheduling conflicts.
At the time, Jackson was relatively unknown. As his IMDb page indicates, he had appeared in a handful of projects between 1994 and when he began filming X-Men, but none of them had been breakthrough roles for him.
Playing Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, however, made Jackman a superstar.
As Stewart’s IMDb page indicates, he was the more experienced of the two when filming for X-Men began. At that point, he had already been in the business for several decades, including portraying Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek franchise.
In his book Making It So: A Memoir, released in 2023, Stewart wrote about first meeting Jackman. The film was on its second day of filming when Jackman showed up to do a screentest for Bryan Singer, who was the director and producer for the project.
Stewart wrote, “We were all rooting for him; he had that intangible star quality.”
When Jackman emerged from the screentest, he was convinced he wasn’t going to get the part. Luckily, shortly after, Jackman discovered that he landed the role after all.
The two men developed a deep friendship that remained strong in all the years since that first day on the set.
Jackman’s tribute to Stewart resonated with fans. The Instagram post quickly accrued more than 1 million likes and 5,500 comments.
“One of the posts I wished would never arrive, has arrived. Rest in Peace Professor,” one fan wrote.
Another commented, “Two absolute legends and you both brought the best out of each other. Thank you.”
This story Hugh Jackman Mourns ‘Tremendous Friend’ Patrick Stewart in Heartbreaking Tribute first appeared on Closer Weekly. Follow Closer Weekly on Yahoo so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
