Patrick Stewart died at 86, and his final months on Instagram tell a story that feels completely true to him. In April he posted a recitation of Sonnet 116. In May he marked the anniversary of the sonnets’first publication in 1609. That was his social media output near the end: poetry, delivered with the calm of a man who knew exactly what mattered.
The project behind those posts started during the pandemic, when Stewart began his“Sonnet-A-Day”series. His wife, Sunny Ozell, suggested he turn it into something bigger, and in April 2026 he released an audio collection of all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets. He wanted the collection to capture every facet love can have, and he told followers he’d converted a few friends to the cause and hoped they were next.
His last public appearance was the Peabody Awards red carpet in June 2024, roughly two years before his death. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company back in 1966 and performed in more than a dozen Shakespeare productions, so those final posts weren’t a late-career hobby. They were a homecoming. Have you listened to his sonnet recordings yet?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.