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Obituary: Harold Pinter
With works like The Caretaker and The Homecoming, Harold Pinter was one of
the most influential of modern dramatists. Off-stage, his opinions and politics
were just as challenging.
One of the UK's most celebrated writers - he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
2005 - as well as a respected stage director and actor, Harold Pinter's
influence on a generation of playwrights can be measured by the speed with which
the word "Pinteresque" entered the vocabulary.
It was first coined in 1960 and, in the decades that followed, Pinter stamped
his mark on the cultural and political scene as an observer of suburban brooding
and as an irate iconoclast.
Born in Hackney, in London's East End in 1930, Pinter suffered what he called
"the pain of separation and fear of an uncertain future" when he was evacuated
twice during World War II.
Attacked by fascists
He later spent an unhappy two terms at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
As confrontational in his youth as he would later be on stage, Pinter became
a conscientious objector in 1949 and was fined for refusing to undergo National
Service.
The same year, he was physically attacked after criticising Fascists in the
East End.
For a while, Pinter acted, under the stage-name David Baron, as well as
writing. But when his play The Room had its debut in 1957, his long time friend,
the director Henry Woolf, hailed it as the start of a new era in British
theatre.
"The audience woke up from its polite cultural stupor and burst into
unexpected life," he said.
The Birthday Party soon followed, which despite initially poor reviews, was
championed by Nöel Coward.
By the time The Caretaker, The Homecoming and The Betrayal had been
performed, Pinter was celebrated for his distinctive way with words and embraced
as a major modern talent.
Some of his plays were adapted for the big screen, and his
screenplays for The French Lieutenant's Woman in 1981 and Betrayal in 1983 both
earned him Oscar nominations.
The scripts for The Servant (1962), and The Go-Between (1969) and The Comfort
of Strangers (1990) were among his most celebrated works.
And he kept his acting skills polished, recently playing the seedy criminal
Sam Ross in the 1997 film Mojo.
Pinter's own words had as much impact as the ones he gave his characters.
He aimed his strong opinions at different targets over the years, including
Nato's bombing of Serbia, and more recently the US and UK's invasion of
Afghanistan and Iraq.
screenplays for The French Lieutenant's Woman in 1981 and Betrayal in 1983 both
earned him Oscar nominations.
The scripts for The Servant (1962), and The Go-Between (1969) and The Comfort
of Strangers (1990) were among his most celebrated works.
And he kept his acting skills polished, recently playing the seedy criminal
Sam Ross in the 1997 film Mojo.
Pinter's own words had as much impact as the ones he gave his characters.
He aimed his strong opinions at different targets over the years, including
Nato's bombing of Serbia, and more recently the US and UK's invasion of
Afghanistan and Iraq.
As the vice-president of the English branch of Pen, the worldwide
association of writers, Pinter befriended the then Czech dissident Vaclav Havel
and petitioned for the liberation of those writing under oppressive regimes. He
fought fiercely for freedom of speech.
He was awarded a CBE in 1966, later turned down a knighthood and became a
Companion of Honour, an exclusive award in the gift of the Sovereign, in 2002.
Criticised by some as a champagne socialist, Pinter sealed his movement from
London's East End to the heart of the establishment with his marriage to Lady
Antonia Fraser in 1980.
A passionate advocate of unilateral nuclear disarmament, he spoke out againt
US involvement in Central and South America and was a high-profile campaigner
against torture.
In protest against a strike at the National Theatre in 1979, he once voted
for Margaret Thatcher, an act he later described as the "most shameful of my
life".
But he kept quiet about his acrimonious first marriage, the death of his
alcoholic ex-wife and his estrangement from his son.
As was true of his characters, the writer's suffering was evident in his
silences.
An rich life of words
In 2002, Pinter was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and, after having
undergone treatment, announced that he was on the road to recovery.
Three years later, he announced that he had given up writing for the theatre
in order to concentrate on political work.
But in October 2005, a frail Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature for uncovering "the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry
into oppression's closed rooms".
association of writers, Pinter befriended the then Czech dissident Vaclav Havel
and petitioned for the liberation of those writing under oppressive regimes. He
fought fiercely for freedom of speech.
He was awarded a CBE in 1966, later turned down a knighthood and became a
Companion of Honour, an exclusive award in the gift of the Sovereign, in 2002.
Criticised by some as a champagne socialist, Pinter sealed his movement from
London's East End to the heart of the establishment with his marriage to Lady
Antonia Fraser in 1980.
A passionate advocate of unilateral nuclear disarmament, he spoke out againt
US involvement in Central and South America and was a high-profile campaigner
against torture.
In protest against a strike at the National Theatre in 1979, he once voted
for Margaret Thatcher, an act he later described as the "most shameful of my
life".
But he kept quiet about his acrimonious first marriage, the death of his
alcoholic ex-wife and his estrangement from his son.
As was true of his characters, the writer's suffering was evident in his
silences.
An rich life of words
In 2002, Pinter was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and, after having
undergone treatment, announced that he was on the road to recovery.
Three years later, he announced that he had given up writing for the theatre
in order to concentrate on political work.
But in October 2005, a frail Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature for uncovering "the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry
into oppression's closed rooms".
Although too ill to attend the award celebrations in Stockholm, he
recorded the traditional laureate's lecture at a London television studio.
Speaking from a wheelchair, a visibly ailing Pinter repeated his earlier call
for George W Bush and Tony Blair to be prosecuted for war crimes over Iraq,
meditated on death and gave a masterclass in writing.
"When we look into a mirror," he said, "we think the image that confronts us
is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes.
"We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But
sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that
mirror that the truth stares at us."
While observers analysed his work in minute detail, Harold Pinter himself
nursed a lifelong aversion to over-interpretation.
"I can sum up none of my plays. That is what happened. That is what they
said. That is what they did, he said.
I have my moods like anyone else, but my writing life has been, quite simply,
one of relish, challenge and excitement."
recorded the traditional laureate's lecture at a London television studio.
Speaking from a wheelchair, a visibly ailing Pinter repeated his earlier call
for George W Bush and Tony Blair to be prosecuted for war crimes over Iraq,
meditated on death and gave a masterclass in writing.
"When we look into a mirror," he said, "we think the image that confronts us
is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes.
"We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But
sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that
mirror that the truth stares at us."
While observers analysed his work in minute detail, Harold Pinter himself
nursed a lifelong aversion to over-interpretation.
"I can sum up none of my plays. That is what happened. That is what they
said. That is what they did, he said.
I have my moods like anyone else, but my writing life has been, quite simply,
one of relish, challenge and excitement."
Sad note.A lot of them are passing on.