British playwright Tom Stoppard, 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 Stoppard died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his 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,” they said. “It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”

Stoppard was a prolific playwright, with titles including The Real Inspector Hound , Jumpers and Night and Day , a satire on the British media.

One of his most famous plays, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are D ead , made Stoppard, at the age of 29, the youngest playwri

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