Whoopi Goldberg pays tribute to 'irreplaceable' Sir Patrick Stewart
Whoopi Goldberg, who worked with Sir Patrick Stewart on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Picard, has paid tribute just days after his death.
Whoopi Goldberg has remembered Sir Patrick Stewart as "a wonderful actor and great human being".
The 70-year-old star appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation alongside the late Jean-Luc Picard actor from 1988 to 1993, and she has paid tribute to her late friend after his death last week aged 86, after a brief battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
Appearing on Monday's (02.11.26) episode of The View, she said: "Friday we lost a wonderful actor and great human being. He passed away. We went way back, and I adored him.”
Sir Patrick passed away last Wednesday (28.10.26), and his publicist confirmed his death the following day.
Whoopi reunited with the veteran actor in 2022 when she reprised her role of Guinan in two episodes of Star Trek sequel series Picard.
She added: "He could do everything. He could do drama, science fiction, comedy, and, of course, Shakespeare.
"We’re going to miss his talent, miss his friendship, his kindness, and his humour. He is, in a word, irreplaceable, really.”
The View producers played a short clip from 2020, when Sir Patrick appeared on the show to invite her to be part of Picard.
She said: "There’s nobody like him. Star Trek remains one of the great events in my life, and it’s still one of the best and I’ll miss him dearly.
"But, he’s up with a lot of great people, so I know he’s running around having fun.”
After the news of his passing, Whoopi shared a photo of toy versions of herself and Sir Patrick.
She captioned the Instagram post: "See you on the next holodeck @sirpatstew RIP.”
When Sir Patrick appeared on The View to pitch Picard to Whoopi in 2020, he delivered a "formal invitation".
He said at the time: "Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer and all his colleagues - of which I am one - want to invite you into the second season."
As the audience and the rest of the panel cheered, the pair embraced and Sir Patrick could be heard saying: "Please say yes."
Whoopi replied: "Yes, yes, oh yeah."
After the pair sat down again, Whoopi recalled how much she'd enjoyed her work on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
She said: "This was one of the greatest experiences... Star Trek was one of the greatest experiences from beginning to end, I had the best time ever."
And Sir Patrick was excited to get the chance to work with her again on the spinoff.
He added: "It was wonderful having you and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time."
