Czech-born, English-raised playwright and screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard has died at the age of 88.
In his time, Stoppard won the Oscar for his screenplay for “Shakespeare in Love,” along with three Laurence Olivier awards and five Tony awards.
On the big screen, he wrote the screenplays for Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Despair” (1978), Otto Preminger’s Graham Green novel adaptation “The Human Factor ,” Terry Gilliam’s dystopian black comedy “Brazil” (1985), Steven Spielberg’s wartime epic “Empire of the Sun” (1987), and Fred Schepsi’s adaptation of John le Carre’s “The Russia House” (1990).
He also penned Robert Benton’s adaptation of “Billy Bathgate” (1991), the aforementioned John Madden-directed “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), the telemovie “Poodle Springs,” Michael Apted’s film adaptation of Robert Harris’ “Enigma” (2001), Joe Wright’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” (2012), the BBC/HBO limited series “Parade’s End” (2013), and Justin Chadwick’s “Tulip Fever” (2014).
He also did some notable uncredited work – a final rewrite of Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and a dialogue polish of George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith”. He also penned an adaptation of “The Golden Compass” which wasn’t produced.
He wrote many plays in his time, arguably his most famous being his first work “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” which he ultimately both penned and directed the film adaptation of. Other plays included “The Gamblers,” “Jumpers,” “Travesties,” “Night & Day,” “Arcadia,” and “The Invention of Love and Leopoldstadt” among others.
He reportedly died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family.
Source: BBC
