26 Dec 2008

Playwright Harold Pinter dies

6:03 pm on 26 December 2008

One of Britain's greatest playwrights, Harold Pinter, has died. He was 78.

Harold Pinter excelled as an actor, screenplay writer and director, but it was his ground-breaking plays that made the biggest impact.

The author of The Birthday Party and The Homecoming had suffered from cancer for several years.

In later life, he became a vocal campaigner for political causes, and was an outspoken critic of the Iraq War. He likened the administration of United States President George Bush to the Nazis and described Britain's former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as a "mass murderer".

In October 2005, he was named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

His wife, Lady Antonia Fraser, told the Guardian newspaper that it was a privilege to live with him for more than 33 years.