Stoppard, Tom (1937– )

Czech-born British dramatist. His works use wit and wordplay to explore logical and philosophical ideas. He enjoyed wide success with the absurdist Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967), based on two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, and The Real Thing (1982), a play within a play about the relationship between a playwright and an actress. He has also written for radio, television, and the cinema, sharing the 1999 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (with Marc Norman) for the historical comedy Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Other highly acclaimed plays include Travesties (1974), Hapgood (1988), Arcadia (1993), The Invention of Love (1997). and the trilogy Coast of Utopia (2002). He also wrote the screen adaptations for the World War II films Empire of the Sun (1987) and Enigma (2001), and the spy thriller The Russian House (1990).

Stoppard's other plays include The Real Inspector Hound (1968), Jumpers (1972), Dirty Linen (1976), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977), and Indian Ink (1995).

Stoppard has also translated several works of Czech dramatist and politician Václav Havel into English. The Tom Stoppard Prize, created in 1983, is awarded to authors of Czech origin.