Harold Pinter, playwright and Nobel laureate, dies at 78

Harold Pinter, the British playwright and Nobel laureate famous for brooding portrayals of domestic life and his barbed politics...

Harold Pinter, the British playwright and Nobel laureate famous for brooding portrayals of domestic life and his barbed politics, died aged 78 on Christmas Eve after battling cancer, media reported on Thursday.

Pinter, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 2005, was a vocal opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, likening President George W Bush8217;s administration to the Nazis and calling former British Prime Minister Tony Blair a 8220;mass murderer.8221;

His plays, including 8220;The Caretaker8221; and 8220;The Homecoming,8221; were regarded as among the finest of the last half century and enjoyed a recent renaissance as modern audiences tapped into his dark studies of tedious lives balancing on the edge of chaos. Pinter8217;s second wife, Lady Antonia Fraser, told the Guardian newspaper he was 8220;a great.8221; 8220;It was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten,8221; she said.

Pinter8217;s work influenced a generation of British dramatists, defined the 8220;kitchen sink8221; drama and introduced a new word to the English language. 8220;Pinteresque8221; perfectly describes taught silences peppered with half-stated insights.

His plays exuded tension, were spiced with erotic fantasies and were full of obsession, jealousy and hatred. Critics dubbed Pinter8217;s chilling masterpieces 8220;the theater of insecurity.8221; But the son of a working-class Jewish tailor never helped audiences to unravel the meaning of his plays, telling them: 8220;There are no hard distinctions between what is real and unreal.8221;

Fom 1958 to 1978 a flurry of Pinter plays changed the face of British theater. But then silence fell for 15 years until the London production of his next full-length play, 8220;Moonlight.8221;

He became the subject of marital scandal in 1980 when his actress wife Vivien Merchant, his long-time muse, divorced him because of an affair with Lady Fraser, a renowned author and daughter of anti-pornography campaigner Lord Longford. Pinter married Fraser later that year but Merchant, star of many Pinter plays, died in 1982, a victim of alcoholism.

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In later life Pinter turned to political activism, campaigning for human rights, nuclear disarmament and speaking out against Western foreign policy. 8220;The crimes of the US throughout the world have been systematic, constant, clinical, remorseless and fully documented but nobody talks about them,8221; he said. Pinter also carved out a distinguished career as a screenwriter with hits such as 8220;The French Lieutenant8217;s Woman8221; and 8220;The Servant.8221;