Nobel Prize Playwright Harold Pinter Dies, Aged 78

Nobel Prize-winning British playwright and political activist Harold Pinter (pictured) passed away on Christmas Eve at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer. Lady Antonia Fraser, his wife since 1980, said in a statement to the Guardian newspaper: “He was a great man, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten.”

Born in London on 10 October 1930, Pinter started his career as an actor after dropping out of RADA. He made his playwriting debut in 1957 with The Room and went on to write 30 plays in total, including The Birthday Party (1958) – a famous initial flop that closed after a critical drubbing and a handful of performances at the Lyric Hammersmith – The Dumb Waiter (1959), The Caretaker (1960), The Lover (1962), The Homecoming (1965), No Man’s Land (1975), Mountain Language (1988), Moonlight (1993), Ashes to Ashes (1996) and Celebration (2000).

Pinter also wrote one novel, The Dwarfs, adapted many of his stage plays for radio and television, and wrote the screenplays to a number of films including The Servant (1963), The Quiller Memorandum (1965), The Go-Between (1970), The Last Tycoon (1974) and The Comfort of Strangers (1989), which was adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan.

In more recent years, Pinter concentrated on poetry, much of it expressing his anti-war sentiments. Prior to winning the Nobel Prize in 2005, he caused headlines by stating on BBC Radio 4 that he wouldn’t write any more plays. He later clarified: “I said something casually. It was not a declaration of policy or intent, it was just a very practical matter. I haven’t written a play for six years, and I think it’s unlikely that I’ll write another one.”

Though that prediction proved true, Pinter has never been far from the London stage with near-constant revivals of his plays (See “Pause for Pinter”, Features, 28 Jan 2008). This year alone has seen major productions of The Homecoming at the Almeida, the 50th anniversary revival of The Birthday Party at the Lyric Hammersmith, and in the West End, the double bill of The Lover and The Collection and, currently at the Duke of York’s starring Michael Gambon, Rupert Goold’s production of No Man’s Land.

As well as writing, Pinter directed many productions, both of his own plays and those of other writers, including James Joyce, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, David Mamet and Simon Gray. Throughout his career, he continued acting on stage, film, television and radio. In 2006, he participated in the Royal Court’s 50th anniversary celebrations by performing Samuel Beckett’s one-man play Krapp’s Last Tape (See News, 11 Oct 2005).

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Pinter’s many other accolades included a CBE, which he was awarded in 1966, the Wilfred Owen prize for poetry and the ST Dupont Golden PEN Award from the English Centre of International PEN. He held honorary degrees from the Universities of Reading, Glasgow, East Anglia and Bristol.

On being awarded the Nobel Prize, Pinter was described as a writer “who, in his plays, uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”. Too frail to attend the ceremony in Stockholm, he famously used his video acceptance speech to launch a blistering attack on his long-time enemy, the US government for its “systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless” crimes committed around the globe by the US over the past half-century (See News, 8 Dec 2005).

– by Terri Paddock