The playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, has died at the age of 88.
A statement from United Agents said: "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."
Stoppard's six-decade contribution to the dramatic arts won him a host of Tony and Olivier Awards, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award with Marc Norman for their 1998 screenplay Shakespeare in Love - starring fellow Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
Listen: Tom Stoppard talks to Rattlebag's Myles Dungan in an interview first broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 in 2004
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Although primarily entertaining, Stoppard's work explored philosophical and political themes, challenging societal norms to remind audiences of the power of thought.
Award-winning plays such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, and Travesties highlighted the enduring impact of art tackling complex ideas, with sharp dialogue and unrivalled wit.
He also wrote prolifically for TV, radio, and film, including adapting Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina for the 2012 film starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, and the TV series Parade's End with Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall - adapted from novels by Ford Madox Ford.
In 2020, Stoppard released his semi-autobiographical work Leopoldstadt - set in the Jewish quarter of early 20th-century Vienna - which later won him an Olivier Award for Best New Play and four Tony Awards.
He was also honoured by PEN America, the literary and human rights organisation, receiving the Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award for the West End play, which featured his son Ed Stoppard.
Born Tomáš Sträussler in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain, where he learned a new language and his remarkable career began.
He became a journalist in Bristol in 1954 before becoming a theatre critic and writing plays for radio and TV, including The Stand-Ins, later revised as The Real Inspector Hound, and Albert's Bridge, first broadcast by BBC Radio.
Stoppard first made his name with the hit play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, before it was produced for Britain's National Theatre and on Broadway, winning four Tony Awards in 1968, including Best Play.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, inspired by Stoppard's friendship with Viktor Fainberg, who had been imprisoned in Czechoslovakia by the Soviets, was first performed in 1977, before the playwright began advocating on behalf of dissidents.
His trilogy of plays set in 19th-century Russia, The Coast of Utopia, was first staged at Britain's National Theatre in 2002.
His most recent plays included Heroes, Rock 'n' Roll, and The Hard Problem.
During the course of his career, he received countless accolades and honours, including being knighted by Britain's late Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 1997.
Stoppard followed in the footsteps of fellow laureates Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter, and Hilary Mantel by winning the David Cohen Prize for Literature in 2017.
Source: Press Association
