Sir Tom Stoppard, a titan of modern theater and film, whose award-winning works balanced wit and brio with a true curiosity for the depth of human emotion, has died at the age of 88.
The news of the Czech-born British playwright’s death was shared by his representatives at United Agents, who said he died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset, 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,” the statement read. “It was an honor to work with Tom, and to know him.”
Born Tomáš Straüssler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia in 1937, Stoppard was a child when he fled his home during the Nazi occupation—first to Singapore, then to India, before finding refuge in Britain. He first became a journalist at the age of 17—forgoing university to work at 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 in the early stages of their own careers, that the world of theater unfurled for him.
Stoppard broke through in 1966 with his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an ambitious tragicomedy that reimagines the lives of two minor characters in Shakespare’s Hamlet, and which became a landmark moment in British theater. First premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the play was later performed at the National Theatre and on Broadway, where it won four Tonys, including best play.
Stoppard continued to produce new work regularly over the following decades, developing his probing, flair-filled dramatic voice through plays including Travesties, The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia trilogy. His final play, 2020’s Leopoldstadt, played in London and New York to critical acclaim. He also wrote extensively for television, radio, and film, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his screenplay for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. More recently, he adapted Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina for Joe Wright’s 2012 movie starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law. Still, theater was always Stoppard’s most treasured space.
His plays, rich in whip-smart aperçu and acrobatic dialogue as he explored heartache and politics, human conflict, faith, and art, received many accolades and international recognition. His 1982 play The Real Thing won a Tony Award, 1993’s Arcadia an Olivier, and all three parts of The Coast of Utopia won a Tony in 2007. In 1997, he was knighted by the late Queen for his services to literature. In 2020, his semi-autobiographical work Leopoldstadt—which unspools his own Jewish history in an epic family saga set in 19th century Vienna—won an Olivier and four Tony awards.
“He is one of the great playwrights, up there with Pinter, Beckett, Albee, and Miller,” Sonia Friedman, who worked with Stoppard on Leopoldstadt in 2020 and Jumpers in 2003, previously told Vogue.
Stoppard also remains one of the most internationally performed playwrights of his generation. As his character Rosencrantz reflects: “Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it going to end?” It’s a line that revels in the exact curiosity and contradiction that propelled Stoppard, and a reminder of how his art will endure.
