The literary world is in mourning. Tom Stoppard, the colossal British playwright and intellectual juggernaut famed for crafting the screenplays of Brazil and Shakespeare in Love, has passed away at the age of 88 at his residence in South West England.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the death of our friend and client, Tom Stoppard, at his home in Dorset,” his agency announced in a somber statement on Sunday.
His origin story was as dramatic and complex as the narratives he spun. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937 into a Jewish family forced into exile by the encroaching Nazi menace, Stoppard eventually arrived in England as a refugee at the close of the war, following stints in Singapore and India. He abandoned formal education at the tender age of 17. After a brief, workmanlike career as a journalist in Bristol, he exploded onto the cultural scene in 1967 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an absurdist masterpiece that thrust two minor characters from Hamlet into the limelight.
Author of more than thirty plays, his final major work, Leopoldstadt, traced the harrowing trajectory of a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna whose destiny is shattered by Nazism and the Holocaust. In 2023, the production swept the Tony Awards—the highest honor in American theater—claiming four statues, including Best Play.
His genius was not confined to the stage. He moved fluidly between mediums, writing for radio, television, and cinema. He penned the script for Terry Gilliam‘s dystopian classic Brazil (1985), Steven Spielberg‘s Empire of the Sun (1987), and Joe Wright‘s adaptation of Anna Karenina (2012). His fingerprints can also be found on blockbuster history; he participated in the script doctoring and writing for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Star Wars: Episode III.
A figure of fascination for the British tabloids due to his vibrant romantic life, Stoppard, a father of four sons, married his third wife, the heiress Sabrina Guinness, at the age of 76.
“My Favorite Playwright”
Mick Jagger, the legendary frontman of the Rolling Stones, paid tribute on social media. “Tom Stoppard was my favorite playwright,” he posted on X. “He leaves us with a majestic corpus of work that was both intellectual and amusing. I will miss him always.”
“We will remember him for his works, their brilliance and humanity, as well as for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit, and his profound love of the English language,” stated the talent agency United Agents on Saturday, confirming his peaceful departure at home.
