Sir Tom Stoppard, the acclaimed British playwright who authored a plethora of original plays and and screenplays for a succession of popular films has died at the age of 88.
In a statement Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his family.
“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,” they said.
“It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”
Stoppard has been described as one of the greatest playwrights of his generation created often performed works including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Jumpers and Arcadia.
He also wrote the screenplays for many films including Brazil, Empire of the Sun, The Russia House, Billy Bathgate, Shakespeare in Love, and Enigma. While also contributing to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
He was born Tomáš Sträussler is the Czechoslovakian city of Zlin. With the rise of Nazi Germany the shoe company that his father, who was a doctor, worked for began moving their Jewish employees to other areas of their international operations. On 15th March 1939, the day the Nazi’s invaded, the family fled to Singapore.
The author, his brother and his mother fled to British India ahead of the Japanese forces arriving. His father remained in Singapore and died when Stoppard was just four years old. He later learned that his father had drowned when the ship he was on was bombed.
In 1845 his mother remarried, her second husband Kenneth Stoppard was a major in the British family. The children took on their step-father’s surname and relocated to England.
After attending university Tom Stoppard became a newspaper journalist, later moving into the role of drama critic. In the 1950s he began writing radio plays, and later began created television plays and theatrical works.
His breakout success was with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a comedic play that centres on two characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. His plays are noted for their witty dialogue and word play and similar works are often described as Stoppardian.
Stoppard was married three times and also had several relationships with well known actors. His first union was with Josie Ingle from 1965 until 1972. His second marriage was to journalist and television presenter Miriam Stern from 1972 until 1992, they separated when he began a relationship with actor Felicity Kendall.
He also had a long relationship with actor Sinead Cusack, while she remained married to her husband Jeremy Irons. In 2014 he married television producer Sabrina Guinness.
Stoppard’s final play Leopoldstadt made its debut in 2020. It follows the lives of a Jewish family in Vienna with the scenes taking place in 1899, 1900, 1924, 1938 and 1955. It won a Tony Award for Best PLay in 2022.
