Tom Stoppard, the Oscar-winning British playwright whose famous work revolutionized modern theater and earned him one of cinema’s highest accolades for Shakespeare in Love, has died at the age of 88.
According to his agency, United Agents, the acclaimed playwright died peacefully at home with his family by his side.
Czech-born writer Stoppard, often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation, had a career defined by wit, intellectual courage and a mastery of language.
His Academy Award was one of the many distinctions he received, including several Tonys and Oliviers.
Stoppard escaped the Nazis as a child
Stoppard was born Tomas Straussler in 1937 to a Jewish family in Czechoslovakia. He fled the Nazi occupation with his family in 1939, settling first in Singapore and then India, before eventually settling in Britain.
He began his career as a journalist, but rose to fame with the Shakespearean absurdist spin-off, the tragicomedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which brought him international fame.
Over the course of six decades, Stoppard explored a wide variety of ideas in his plays, from philosophy and science to love, politics, and history.
His major works, including Travesties, The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia and “Leopoldstadt”, earned him five Tony Awards for Best Play. Biographer Hermione Lee praised his ability to combine “language, knowledge and emotion”.
Mick Jagger paid tribute
News of his death prompted an outpouring of tributes, with singer Mick Jagger calling Stoppard his “favourite playwright”, and praising the “majestic body of intellectual and entertaining works” he left behind.
Theaters in London’s West End also announced they would dim their lights on Tuesday in his honour.
Stoppard’s later plays often included themes of exile, memory, and loss – partly influenced by his family history, much of which he encountered only towards the end of his life.
He also wrote for film and television and performed works written and translated by Czech playwright and president Václav Havel. He was a staunch supporter of free expression.
He was knighted in 1997 and is survived by four sons and several grandchildren.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko