Glenn Close and Mick Jagger lead tributes to Tom Stoppard
Celebrities like Mick Jagger and Glenn Close have led the host of heartfelt tributes for iconic playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, who passed away at the age of 88.
On November 29th, it was shared by United Agents that the artist passed away “peacefully” at his home in Dorset. A statement read, “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.”
Stoppard enjoyed an illustrious career in which he won five Tony Awards. His most famous works include plays Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Arcadia and The Real Thing.
He has also written several screenplays, most famously Steven Spielberg’s Empire Of The Sun, and the final re-write of Indiana Jones And The Crusade. He won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Shakespeare In Love, which starred Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench.
Plenty of huge stars have paid tribute to the writer online, including Mick Jagger, who wrote, “Tom Stoppard was my favourite playwright. He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.”
Sean Ono Lennon also paid tribute via X, writing simply, “Tom Stoppard R.I.P. An absolute genius.”
Via the New York Times, plenty of stars shared kind words about the icon. Actor Glenn Close shared her tribute, “He was the most elegant man, and I mean that in his thinking, in the way he smoked a cigarette, the way he tied a scarf around his neck, but also the way he thought. He was a giant and a genius.”
Close added, “In a day where our language is getting just ravaged, there’s a reason why great ideas have eloquence. Tom knew, as he said, what order to put the words in so that they actually move you. That’s a rare and incredible gift.”
Ethan Hawke, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2007 for his performance in Stoppard’s play The Coast of Utopia, wrote, “I worked with Tom Stoppard for almost a year while we rehearsed and performed his play The Coast of Utopia. It was the single greatest learning experience of my life.”
Hawke added, “It was as if he took us to the top of Mount Olympus and showed us the view. I believe he spent his life up there. I only spent but a few moments, but I will forever know what ‘magnificent’ looks like.”
Tim Curry branded Stoppard “the funniest man on the planet,” before adding, “And it’s so extraordinary that English was his second language. Because nobody advanced it more or cherished it more. He could write anything: comedy, tragedy, whatever you like. He was very specific.”
Actor Gloria Mann also took to X to share her grief, writing, “Rest in Peace dear Sir Tom Stoppard, 88. He was an Oscar-winning literary genius, and one of the world’s greatest dramatists. Thank you for leaving us an extraordinary body of work that will live forever.”
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