Sir Tom Stoppard, a titan of modern theater and film whose award-winning work balanced wit and brow with a genuine curiosity for the depths of human emotion, has died aged 88.
News of the Czech-born British playwright’s death was shared by his representatives at United Agents, who said he had died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset, England, surrounded by his family.
“He will be remembered for his work, his brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his deep love of the English language,” the statement read. “It has been an honor to work with Tom, and to know him.”
Born Tommy Strassler in 1937 in Ziln, Czechoslovakia, Stoppard was a child when he fled his home during the Nazi occupation – first to Singapore, then India, before finding refuge in Britain. He first became a journalist at the age of 17 – leaving university to work for local newspapers in Bristol – and later a theater critic. It was through frequenting the Bristol Old Vic and forming friendships with actor Peter O’Toole and director John Boorman early in his career that the world of theater opened up for him.
Stoppard broke through with his game in 1966 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, An ambitious tragicomedy that reimagines the lives of two minor characters in Shakespeare Hamlet, and which became a seminal moment in British theatre. First premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the play was later performed at the National Theater and on Broadway, where it won four Tonys, including Best Play.
