Tom Stoppard, Acclaimed Playwright and Oscar Winner for ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ Passes Away at 88
Renowned Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom Stoppard and celebrated five-time Tony Award-winning playwright, has passed away at the age of 88.
His death was announced on Saturday by United Agents, which stated he died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset, England, surrounded by family.
In a tribute, the agency expressed, “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.” The statement continued, “It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him,” according to the Associated Press.
Mick Jagger shared his memories of Stoppard, calling him “my favourite playwright” and adding in a social media post, “He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”
Piers Morgan referred to Stoppard as “one of the world’s greatest dramatists,” stating, “What a writer! Sad news.”
Born on July 3, 1937, in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, Stoppard’s early life was marked by upheaval as his Jewish family fled Nazi occupation. After a period at a boarding school in the Indian Himalayas, they settled in the United Kingdom after World War II. Stoppard later embarked on a career as a theater critic and playwright.
After writing short radio plays in the 1950s, Stoppard produced his first stage play, A Walk on the Water [Enter a Free Man], in 1960; it premiered in Hamburg, Germany, in 1963. His career gained momentum in 1966 with the debut of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Edinburgh Festival.
Stoppard’s extensive body of work includes acclaimed plays such as The Gamblers, Tango, The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, Night & Day, Arcadia, The Invention of Love, and Leopoldstadt.
In film, Stoppard’s screenwriting credits include Empire of the Sun (1987), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and contributions to Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005).
