Playwright and screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard has died at the age of 88.

Stoppard died peacefully surrounded by his family at home in Dorset, England, his agents announced on Saturday.

"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," United Agents added in a statement. "It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him."

Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard is best known for the plays Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, Travesties, Night and Day, Arcadia, and The Invention of Love, among others.

His most recent stage work, 2020's semi-autobiographical drama Leopoldstadt, won both Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play.

In film, Stoppard adapted his own play and made his directorial debut with 1990's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth as two minor characters from Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet.

He also co-wrote the screenplay for 1998's Shakespeare in Love, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his work.

Stoppard also adapted Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina for the 2012 film of the same name starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. His other notable screenwriting credits include Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.

He was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 1997.

Stoppard was married three times and had four sons, including actor Ed Stoppard.