LOS ANGELES — Patrick Stewart, the British Shakespearean actor who became a Hollywood megastar through roles in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.

His death on Wednesday came after a “brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to an official statement on his social media accounts.

“His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre,” the statement said.

The actor, who hailed from the northern English region of Yorkshire, trod the boards in Britain with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in London, and worked on British television.

But he rocketed into the pop culture history books in his mid-40s when he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then again as Professor Charles Xavier in multiple X-Men and related Marvel films.

“He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction’s most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise,” the official statement said.