Tom Stoppard, Sparkling Playwright Who Won an Oscar for ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ Dies at 88

Tom Stoppard poses with the award for best play for "Leopoldstadt" in the press room at the 76th annual Tony Awards on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at the Radio Hotel in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

LONDON—British playwright Tom Stoppard, a playful, probing dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare In Love,” has died. He was 88.

In a statement Saturday, United Agents said the Czech-born Stoppard — often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation — died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southwest England, surrounded by his family.