Sir Tom Stoppard (1937 – 2025) was a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Laurence Olivier Awards, and five Tony Awards as well as nominations for five BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978 and a Knight Bachelor in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II.
As a playwright, he was honored on both Broadway and the West End stage. For the former, he won the five Tony Awards for Best Play for the absurdist tragicomedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1968), the comedy Travesties (1976), the romance drama The Real Thing (1984), the epic trilogy The Coast of Utopia (2007), and the Holocaust drama Leopoldstadt (2023). For the later, he won three Laurence Olivier Awards, two for Best New Play for epic Arcadia (1994) and Leopoldstadt (2020) and one for Best New Comedy Play for Heroes (2006).
Stoppard wrote numerous screenplays for film. He gained acclaim for co-writing the Terry Gilliam-directed dystopian science fiction black comedy Brazil (1985) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He wrote the Steven Spielberg coming-of-age war drama epic Empire of the Sun (1987) for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. For his film adaptation of his own play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), he won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.
He gained widespread acclaim for co-writing the John Madden directed period romantic drama Shakespeare in Love (1997) for which he earned the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival as well as a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. He wrote the film adaptation of Anna Karenina (2012) earning a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film nomination. On television, he wrote the BBC Two limited series Parade's End (2013) for which he was nominated for two British Academy Television Awards (for Best Miniseries and Best Writer – Drama Series) and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Stoppard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1972, received the Shakespeare Prize in 1979, was inducted in the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Writers Guild of America Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2013, and the David Cohen Prize in 2017. Stoppard also received Honorary degrees from Yale University in 2000, the University of Cambridge in 2000, and the University of Oxford in 2013. He was named Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin in 2009.
Major associations Academy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.1985 Best Original Screenplay Brazil 1998 Shakespeare in Love
BAFTA Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.British Academy Film Award 1987 Best Adapted Screenplay Empire of the Sun 1998 Best Original Screenplay Shakespeare in Love 2012 Outstanding British Film Anna Karenina British Academy Television Award2013 Best Miniseries Parade's End Best Writer - Drama Series
Critics' Choice Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.Critics' Choice Movie Awards 1998 Best Screenplay Shakespeare in Love
Emmy Award Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.Primetime Emmy Awards 2013 Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Parade's End
Golden Globe Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.1998 Best Screenplay Shakespeare in Love
Laurence Olivier Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.1979 Best New Play Night and Day Undiscovered Country 1981 Best New Comedy On the Razzle 1994 Best New Play Arcadia 2003 The Coast of Utopia 2006 Best New Comedy Heroes 2007 Best New Play Rock 'n' Roll 2020 Leopoldstadt
Tony Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.1968 Best Play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 1976 Travesties 1984 The Real Thing 1995 Arcadia 2001 The Invention of Love 2007 The Coast of Utopia 2008 Rock 'n' Roll 2023 Leopoldstadt
Miscellaneous awards Organizations Year Category Work Result Ref. Berlin International Film Festival 1999 Silver Bear Shakespeare in Love Drama Desk Award 1995 Outstanding Play Arcadia 2001 The Invention of Love 2007 The Coast of Utopia 2008 Rock 'n' Roll 2023 Leopoldstadt Evening Standard Award 1967 Most Promising Playwright (UK) Tom Stoppard 1974 Best Comedy of the Year (UK) Travesties 1978 Best Play (UK) Night and Day 1982 Best Play (UK) The Real Thing 1993 Best Play of the Year (UK) Arcadia 1997 Best Play (UK) The Invention of Love John Whiting Award1967New & Distinctive Dramatic WritingRosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead London Theatre Critics Award 1967 Best New Play (UK) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 1972 Best New Play (UK) Jumpers New York Drama Critics' Circle 1968 Best Play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 1976 Travesties 1984 The Real Thing 1995 Arcadia 2001 The Invention of Love 2007 The Coast of Utopia 2023 Best Foreign Play Leopoldstadt Prix Italia 1968 Best Play Albert's Bridge – (Italy) Prix Italia, Winners 1949–2010, RAI Venice International Film Festival 1990 Golden Lion Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Honorary awards
Organizations Year Award Result Royal Society of Literature 1972 Elected as a Fellow Queen Elizabeth II 1978 Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alfred Toepfer Foundation 1979 Shakespeare Prize Queen Elizabeth II 1997 Knight Bachelor American Theater Hall of Fame 1999 Induction Queen Elizabeth II 2000 Order of Merit The London Library 2002 Named President of the Institution The Critics' Circle 2008 Distinguished Service to the Arts Award The Imperial Family of JapanThe Japan Art Association 2009 Praemium Imperiale PEN Pinter Prize 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award Writers Guild of America 2013 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement PEN/Allen Foundation 2015 Literary Service Award British Academy 2017 Honorary Fellow America Award in Literature 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award Arts Council England 2017 David Cohen Prize
Honorary degrees Organizations Year Award Result Yale University 2000 Honorary Doctor of Letters University of Cambridge 2000 Honorary Doctor of Letters Trinity College Dublin 2009 Patronage of the University Philosophical Society University of Oxford 2013 Honorary Doctor of Letters
References