Oscar-winning UK playwright Tom Stoppard dies aged 88
LONDON, United States (AFP) — British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1998 movie “Shakespeare In Love”, has died at the age of 88, United Agents announced on Saturday.
Stoppard, who first made his name with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” — an absurdist tragicomedy about two minor characters from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” — developed a distinctive style combining serious ideas with comedy.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family,” the talent agency said.
“He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.”
Rock legend Mick Jagger led the tributes on social media.
“Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright,” Rolling Stones frontman Jagger posted on X.
“He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”
In London, the Olivier Awards announced that West End theatres would dim their lights for two minutes at 7:00 pm on Tuesday in his memory.
His publishers Faber Books paid tribute to “one of the most brilliant and feted playwrights of the last 60 years and one of the great intellects of our time”.
As well as his Oscar, Stoppard won three Oliviers and five Tonys, among the top awards in the theatre world.
To non-theatre-goers, Stoppard is best remembered for cinema work that included the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” franchises and an Oscar in 1999 for “Shakespeare in Love”.
Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain. After leaving school, Stoppard became a journalist and later a playwright.
Over a six-decade career, he wrote for the theatre, TV and radio, as well as film, winning multiple awards.
In 1997 he was knighted for his services to literature.
Stoppard was married three times and had four sons, one of whom Ed Stoppard, is an actor.
