PETER SHAFFER

(15 May 1926 - 6 June 2016)

Before the British playwright became established, he collaborated on crime novels with his twin brother Anthony Shaffer (who died in 2002). Eventually both became successful playwrights but Peter focussed on esoteric subjects, such as the Spanish capture of the Incas in The Royal Hunt of the Sun; the psychology behind the blinding of horses by a stable lad in Equus; and a riotous biographical play about the composer Mozart and his bête-noire Salieri in Amadeus which, when filmed in 1985, won an Oscar. All were staged by the National Theatre and all three were subsequently filmed. Before this, from the 1950s, Shaffer had some success with writing plays for television. His first stage play was Five Finger Exercise (1958), a study in family secrets as the arrival of a young tutor provides a catalyst for their revelations. It was filmed in 1962 with Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins and Maximilian Schell, although Shaffer did not write the screenplay. His play The Private Ear became The Pad and How To Use It when filmed in 1966, adapted by other hands. He had collaborated with Peter Brook on Lord of the Flies (1963) and later adapted The Public Eye for the film Follow Me! (1972), with Mia Farrow and Topol, Equus (1977) with Richard Burton and Peter Firth, and Amadeus (1984) with Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham. He also wrote more TV movies in what was not an immense output but one that had a touch of class and where his major stage works also proved popular on screen. Shaffer was made OBE in 1987 and received a knighthood in 2001.

MICHAEL DARVELL