Mick Jagger leads tributes to his “favourite playwright” Tom Stoppard, who has died aged 88

    Mick Jagger has led the tributes to the legendary playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, who has died at the age of 88.

    The news was confirmed by United Agents today (November 29), who said he died “peacefully” at his Dorset home surrounded by family. “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,” a statement read.

    Over a long career, Stoppard won five Tony Awards for his work in theatre, with his most celebrated plays including Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Arcadia and The Real Thing.

    He also worked regularly in cinema, writing the first draft of the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Empire Of The Sun and the final re-write of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. He also contributed to Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, was nominated for an Oscar for co-writing Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and won Best Original Screenplay for Shakespeare In Love.

    Jagger shared a tribute on X, writing: “Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”

    Check out other tributes here:

    Born Tomáš Sträussler in Czechoslovakia on 3 July 1937, he attended boarding school in India after his Jewish family fled the Nazis, finally settling in the UK after the Second World War.

    He began working as a theatre critic and his first completed play A Walk On The Water was first staged in Hamburg in 1963. His career gained momentum in 1966 when Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, a rewriting of Hamlet from the perspective of two minor characters, picked up acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival.

    The adjective ‘Stoppardian’ has been added to the English dictionary, to describe writing that combines wit, linguistic flair and philosophical complexity.

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