Kevin Feige was 'in awe' of Patrick Stewart on set of first X-Men

Kevin Feige was "in awe" of Sir Patrick Stewart when they first worked together on the set of the 2000 superhero movie X-Men.

The legendary Star Trek actor, who played Charles Xavier/Professor X in the X-Men franchise, died on Wednesday aged 86.

Paying tribute to Stewart, the Marvel Studios boss recalled seeing the actor for the first time on set 27 years ago, back when he was just an associate producer.

"I'll never forget the first time I saw Sir Patrick Stewart on the set of the first X-Men. After years of knowing him as the inimitable (Star Trek character) Captain Picard, I was in awe - and he turned out to be everything I had seen on screen and more: brilliant, charming, warm, generous, with a quiet strength and gravitas. Away from the cameras, he was even more remarkable, with a wonderfully sharp sense of humour," he said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

"It was a true privilege to know him and to work with him," he continued. "His legacy lives on not only in decades of extraordinary work, but in the many, many people he mentored. He will be deeply missed."

Feige's statement comes shortly after a Marvel Studios spokesperson said they were "deeply saddened" by Stewart's death.

Excluding cameos, Stewart played Professor X in the original 2000s X-Men trilogy as well as 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past and 2017's Logan. He returns as the character in Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in cinemas in December and will mark his final film appearance.

Several of his original X-Men co-stars paid tribute after his death, including Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Kelsey Grammer, Famke Janssen and Rebecca Romijn.

McKellen described his longtime friend as "a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love,"; Jackman called him "a tremendous friend and man"; and Grammer dubbed him "a marvelous man".

Romijn said in an Instagram video, "I feel so grateful to have known him for the last 25 years, and to have been in his orbit for the last 25 years, both as a fellow mutant and as a fellow member of Starfleet."

Meanwhile, his Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men co-star Janssen told the outlet, "Patrick was a legend. One of the greats. I had the pleasure and honour of working with him over several decades... You will be missed, Patrick, but never forgotten."