Award winning Game of Thrones actor Michael Patrick dead at 35

British theatre actor Michael Patrick passed away on Tuesday after a three year bout with motor neurone disease (MND), his wife Naomi Sheehan announced in an Instagram post on Thursday.

She said he had been admitted to a hospice facility in his native Northern Ireland 10 days ago and was receiving round-the-clock medical attention. “He passed peacefully surrounded by family and friends,” she wrote in the post’s caption.

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Sheehan said her husband “was an inspiration to everyone who was privileged enough to come into contact with him, not just in the past few years during his illness but in every day of his life”.

She said Patrick had lived as full a life as anyone, calling him, “A titan of a ginger-haired man.”

The actor was best known for his work on stage, which continued despite his MND diagnosis and the effects of the debilitating ailment. His adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Richard III was especially lauded and his wheelchair-bound performance as the play’s titular character won him the Judges’ Award at the Stage Awards last year.

Patrick had numerous television acting credits, including an appearance as a wildling rioter on season six of the popular fantasy series Game of Thrones. He was also a co-writer on the BBC series My Left Nut, which was based on his own experiences as a teenager; the series won three awards from the Royal Television Society.

Tributes poured in from people who had worked with the actor, with Jimmy Fay ─ the executive producer for the Lyric Theatre in Belfast ─ saying, “These islands have lost a great artist, and the sky is brighter tonight with his star. Mick showed great strength and dignity in light of his diagnosis [of] MND. He remained resilient and focused, creating dynamic work throughout his struggles.”

The MAC Theatre said anyone who encountered Patrick’s work would “carry a piece of him with them” due to its personal nature.