Ian McKellen gifts friend Patrick Stewart a heartwarming sonnet for his 80th birthday

"Lord of the Rings" star Sir Ian McKellen surprised his friend and "X-Men" costar, Sir Patrick Stewart, with a heartwarming gift for his 80th birthday on social media: a sonnet.

On Monday, Stewart posted a video of McKellen reading Shakespeare's "Sonnet 81" to assist Stewart's ongoing #ASonnetADay series amid the coronavirus pandemic, where Stewart recites daily Shakespeare poems. Stewart explained that his wife, Sunny Ozell, helped to coordinate the surprise reading.

"Sunny and my team took over for my birthday, and arranged this gift for today’s reading,” Stewart wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Thank you, dear Ian.”

The poem chosen by McKellen depicts immortal life, with phrases including "you still shall live, such virtue hath my pen."

“Have a very happy birthday, dear Patrick,” McKellen concluded after reading the sonnet. “Lots of love, Ian.”

More: Sir Patrick Stewart reveals he's writing memoir ahead of his 80th birthday

Stewart and McKellan's friendship dates back many years. They appeared alongside each other in the 2009 play "Waiting for Godot" and worked together for years before and after on the "X-Men" franchise. McKellen even officiated his friend's marriage to Ozell in a Mexican restaurant.

Stewart ,who plays Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the "Star Trek" franchise, first started his Shakespearean series back in March. After his first video received much praise, Stewart said he "was delighted by the response to yesterday's posting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, and it has led me to undertake what follows."

"When I was a child in the 1940s, my mother would cut up slices of fruit for me (there wasn't much) and as she put it in front of me she would say, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.' How about, 'A sonnet a day keeps the doctor away'? So...here we go: Sonnet 1," he wrote on Twitter on March 22.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Patrick Stewart's 80th birthday: Ian McKellen gifts a sonnet