Sir Tom Stoppard has died at the age of 88.
The playwright won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Dame Judi Dench.
The news of Sir Tom’s death was confirmed in a statement from his agents.
‘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.
‘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.
‘It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him,’ the United Agents statement concluded.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Sir Tom was forced to flee his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain.
The dazzling playwright established himself as one of the greats of the theatre world with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a play based on two peripheral characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
An Edinburgh Fringe success story, the play was developed from the 1966 festival and eventually staged by the National Theatre. It went on to earn four Tonys in 1968, including the gong for best play.
Over his six-decade career, he earned Tony and Olivier awards, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his co-written 1998 screenplay Shakespeare In Love.
He penned over 30 plays for the theatre, with works including Indian Ink and Leopoldstadt, while also maintaining a steady stream of television and radio credits.
In 1997, he was knighted by the late Queen for his services to literature.
His most recent plays include Heroes, Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Hard Problem.
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