Czech-born tragicomic playwright of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Arcadia, and The Coast of Utopia.
While working in Bristol, he was more known for his strained attempts at success and his unstylish attire rather than for his writing style.
He fled Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis in 1939.
Had two sons with his first wife Josie Ingle, and then two sons with his second wife Miriam Stoppard.
He wrote the film Shakespeare in Love, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow.
