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Sir Tom Stoppard died at the age of 88 AP confirmed November 29. The Oscar and Tony Award-winning playwright died “peacefully” in England with his family by his side. “He will be remembered for his work, for its brilliance and humanity, but also for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his deep love of the English language,” Stoppard's talent agency, United Agents, told the AP. “It was an honor to work with and know Tom.” Stoppard is a five-time winner of the Best Play Award at the Tony Festival. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead this is his first victory in 1968 and Leopoldstadt his last victory in 2023. Even those unfamiliar with live theater have come to appreciate Stoppard's work, as he co-wrote the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love next to Mark Norman; the two won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1999. Stoppard also rewrote and refined the final cut of the film. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade under the pseudonym Barry Watson almost a week before the film went into production.
Tomas Straussler was born in 1937 in Czechoslovakia. Stoppard and his family fled to Singapore when the Nazis invaded the country when he was less than two years old. Eventually, all of his family members except his father moved to India when he was 5 years old; his father was a doctor and thought it would be better for him to stay and help. His father died after the ship he was on was bombed by the Japanese army as he was leaving Singapore. Once in India, Tomas and his brother attended an American international school, where he anglicized his name to Tom and later adopted his stepfather's surname, Stoppard. By 1946, the whole family settled in Nottingham, England.
Beloved by many artists, the late writer received numerous awards (below), including from Mick Jagger and the Royal Family.
“A dear friend who made light of his genius, he could and did so with his pen on any topic, challenging, exciting and inspiring his audience born from his personal story. We offer our most sincere condolences to his beloved family. Let us all take comfort in his immortal phrase: 'See every exit as an entrance to another place,'” King Charles shared with Independent.
