Who was Tom Stoppard? Oscar-winning British playwright ‘peacefully’ passes away at 89

Tom Stoppard, the Oscar and Golden Globe winning British playwright, passed away on Saturday.

He breathed his last at the age of 88.

He had won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe award for the screenplay for Shakespeare In Love.

"Stoppard died ‘peacefully’ at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his family," his agent United Agents said in a statement.

“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,” they said. ”

“It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him.”

In a 1970s interview, the Czech-born Stoppard said, "I want to demonstrate that I can make serious points by flinging a custard pie around the stage for a couple of hours,"

“Theatre is first and foremost a recreation. But it is not just a children's playground; it can be recreation for people who like to stretch their minds.”

In 2014, he was crowned "the greatest living playwright" by the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Stoppard was born Tomas Straussler to Jewish parents in Zlin in 1937 in what was then Czechoslovakia. He was married three times and had four sons — one of whom Ed Stoppard, an actor, performed in “Leopoldstadt”, reported AFP.

According to his bio on Wilma Theatre, he grew up in Singapore and India during the Second World War and moved to England in 1946 with his mother and stepfather.

He educated at schools in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire and from 1954 to 1958, he became a journalist working for the Western Daily Press and from 1958 to 60, for the Bristol Evening World (1958-60).

From 1962 to 63, he worked as theatre critic for Scene magazine in London.

1964 onwards, he began writing plays for radio and television.

Guardian reported that Stoppard combined more than 30 plays for the theatre.

His work also featured in television and radio, and with screenplays including an adaptation of John le Carré’s The Russia House, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.

Several social media users condoled the death of Stoppard

A great man and writer. I’ve been watching his work most of my life. Thank you Sir Tom Stoppard," said an X user.

“Legendary playwright Sir Tom Stoppard passes away at 88. His words and stories will live on forever,” said another.

Writer Amanda Criag said that his Arcadia was one of the best theatrical experiences of her life.

“RIP Tom Stoppard. I often think about this passage from The Real Thing: ‘Carnal knowledge. It's what lovers trust each other with. Knowledge of each other, not of the flesh but through the flesh’.”