Oscar-winning UK playwright Tom Stoppard dies aged 88

Tom Stoppard won many awards over his long career, including a 1999 Oscar for his screenplay for the movie ‘Shakespeare in Love’ – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Maury Phillips

British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1998 movie “Shakespeare In Love”, has died at the age of 88, United Agents announced on Saturday.

Stoppard, who first made his name with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” — an absurdist tragi-comedy about two minor characters from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” — developed a distinctive style combining serious ideas with comedy.

“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,” the talent agency said.

“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 said. 

Rock legend Mick Jagger led the tributes on social media. 

“Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright,” Jagger posted on X.

“He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him,” added the Rolling Stones frontman.

To non-theatre-goers, Stoppard is best remembered for cinema work that included the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” franchises and an Oscar in 1999 for his screenplay for “Shakespeare in Love”.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain. After leaving school, Stoppard became a journalist and later a playwright.

Over a six-decade career, he wrote for the theatre, TV and radio, as well as film, winning multiple awards.

In 1997 he was knighted for his services to literature.

Stoppard was married three times and had four sons, one of whom Ed Stoppard, is an actor.