Editing Peter Shaffer

{{Short description|English playwright and screenwriter (1926–2016)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} 
| name               = Peter Shaffer
| image              = Peter Shaffer, 1966.jpg
| caption            = Shaffer in 1966
| birth_name         = Peter Levin Shaffer
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1926|5|15}}
| birth_place        = [[Liverpool]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|2016|6|6|1926|5|15}}
| death_place        = [[Curraheen, County Cork|Curraheen]], [[County Cork]], Ireland
| resting_place      = [[Highgate Cemetery]]
| alma_mater         = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Playwright|screenwriter|novelist}}
| years_active       = 
| partner            = Robert Leonard (died 1990)
| relatives          = [[Anthony Shaffer (writer)|Anthony Shaffer]] (brother)
| signature          = Peter Shaffer's signature.svg
}}

'''Sir Peter Levin Shaffer''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English [[playwright]], screenwriter, and novelist. He is best known for the plays ''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]'' and ''[[Amadeus (play)|Amadeus]]'', the latter of which [[Amadeus (film)|was adapted for the screen]] by [[Miloš Forman]], with an [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Academy Award–winning screenplay]] by Shaffer. 

==Early life==
Shaffer was born to a [[Jewish]] family in [[Liverpool]], the son of Reka (née Fredman) and estate agent Jack Shaffer.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/14301|work=Forward|date=2 October 2008|title=Baring Body and Soul, Again, on Broadway|author=Benjamin Ivry|access-date=14 September 2010}}</ref> He grew up in London and was the identical twin brother of fellow playwright [[Anthony Shaffer (writer)|Anthony Shaffer]].<ref name = NYTObit>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/arts/peter-shaffer-dies-at-90-playwright-won-tonys-for-equus-and-amadeus.html|title = Peter Shaffer Dies at 90; Playwright Won Tonys for 'Equus' and 'Amadeus'|last1 = Weber|first1 = Bruce|last2 = Berkvist|first2 = Robert|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = 7 June 2016|accessdate = 28 July 2022|page = B9|url-access = limited}}</ref>

He was educated at the [[The Hall School (Hampstead)|Hall School]], [[Hampstead]], and [[St Paul's School, London]], and subsequently he gained a scholarship to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], to study history. Shaffer was a [[Bevin Boy]] coal miner during World War II, and took a number of jobs including bookstore clerk, and assistant at the [[New York Public Library]], before discovering his dramatic talents.<ref name=GuardianObit>{{Cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/sir-peter-shaffer-obituary|title=Sir Peter Shaffer obituary|last=Gardner|first=Lyn|date=6 June 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=7 December 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Career==
===Theatre===
Shaffer's first play, ''The Salt Land'' (1955), was presented on [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]] on 8 November 1955. Encouraged by this success, Shaffer continued to write and established his reputation as a playwright in 1958, with the production of ''[[Five Finger Exercise]]'',<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book	
|last= Stevens	
|first= Christopher
|title= Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams
|publisher= John Murray
|year= 2010
|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5
|page=377
}}</ref> which opened in London under the direction of [[John Gielgud]] and won the Evening Standard Drama Award. When ''Five Finger Exercise'' moved to New York City in 1959, it was equally well received and landed Shaffer the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award for Best Foreign Play.

Shaffer's next piece was a double bill, ''The Private Ear and The Public Eye'', two plays each containing three characters and concerning aspects of love. They were presented in May 1962 at the [[Gielgud Theatre|Globe Theatre]], and both starred [[Maggie Smith]] and [[Kenneth Williams]]. Smith won the [[Evening Standard Theatre Awards|Evening Standard Theatre Award]] for Best Leading Actress.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/profile-maggie-smith-260187/|title=Profile: Maggie Smith|date=25 November 2014|website=OfficialLondonTheatre.com|access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>

The [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] was established in 1963, and virtually all of Shaffer's subsequent work was done in its service. His canon contains a mix of philosophical dramas and satirical comedies. ''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun]]'' (1964) presents the conquest and killing of the [[Inca]] ruler [[Atahuallpa]] by the [[conquistador]] [[Francisco Pizarro]] in Peru, while ''[[Black Comedy (play)|Black Comedy]]'' (1965) takes a humorous look at the antics of a group of characters feeling their way around a pitch-black room – although the stage is actually flooded with light.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.samuelfrench.co.uk/p/2990/black-comedy/| title = Black Comedy| access-date =8 November 2019| website = samuelfrench.com}}</ref>
[[File:Peter Shaffer, 1975.jpg|thumb|left|Shaffer in 1975]]

''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]'' (1973) won Shaffer the 1975 [[Tony Award]] for Best Play as well as the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle|New York Drama Critics' Circle Award]]. A journey into the mind of a seventeen-year-old stableboy who had plunged a spike into the eyes of six horses, ''Equus'' ran for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. It was revived by [[Massachusetts]]' [[Berkshire Theatre Festival]] in the summers of 2005 and 2007, by director [[Thea Sharrock]] at London's [[Gielgud Theatre]] in February 2007, and on Broadway (in the Sharrock staging) in September 2008. The latter production, which ran in New York City until February 2009, required the stableboy to appear naked; its star, [[Daniel Radcliffe]], was still associated with the [[Harry Potter (film series)|''Harry Potter'' film series]] intended for general audiences, and this led to mild controversy.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5223520.stm|title=Naked stage role for Potter star|work=BBC News|access-date=22 February 2007|date=28 July 2006}}</ref>

Shaffer followed this success with ''[[Amadeus (play)|Amadeus]]'' (1979) which won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics' Award for the London production. This tells the story of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] and court composer [[Antonio Salieri]] who, overcome with jealousy at hearing the "voice of God" coming from an "obscene child", sets out to destroy his rival. When the show moved to Broadway it won the 1981 [[Tony Award for Best Play]] and, like ''Equus'', ran for more than a thousand performances.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/global/amadeus-writer-peter-shaffer-dies-dead-1201789380/|magazine=Variety|title='Amadeus,' 'Equus' Writer Peter Shaffer Dies at 90|author=Leo Barraclough|date=Jun 6, 2016|access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>

After the success of ''Amadeus'', Shaffer wrote the play ''[[Lettice and Lovage]]'' specifically for [[Dame Maggie Smith]] in 1986, for which he was nominated for another Tony Award and for which Smith eventually won the Tony Award for best actress after three nominations in 1990. ''Lettice and Lovage'' also enabled [[Margaret Tyzack]] to win the award for best featured actress, and the production was nominated for best direction of a play, at the [[44th Tony Awards|1990 Tony Awards]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.playbill.com/production/lettice-and-lovage-ethel-barrymore-theatre-vault-0000004308|website=Playbill|title=Lettice and Lovage|access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>

===Screen work===
Several of Shaffer's plays have been adapted to film, including ''[[Five Finger Exercise (film)|Five Finger Exercise]]'' (1962); ''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun (film)|The Royal Hunt of the Sun]]'' (1969); ''The Public Eye'' (1962), from which he adapted the 1972 film ''[[Follow Me! (1972 film)|Follow Me!]]'' (1972); ''[[Equus (film)|Equus]]'' (1977); and ''[[Amadeus (film)|Amadeus]]'' (1984), which won eight [[Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].

For writing the screenplay for ''Equus'', Shaffer was nominated for an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay, but the award went to [[Alvin Sargent]], who wrote the screenplay for ''[[Julia (1977 film)|Julia]]''. For writing the screenplay for ''Amadeus'', Shaffer was awarded a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award.

[[File:Grave of Peter Shaffer in Highgate Cemetery.jpg|thumb|Grave of Robert Leonard and Peter Shaffer in [[Highgate Cemetery]]]]

==Personal life and death==
Shaffer was [[gay]]. In the 1970s, Shaffer was in a relationship with [[Paul Giovanni]], musician and composer of ''[[The Wicker Man]]''.<ref name=WickerMan>{{cite book |last= Brown|first= Allan|author-link= |date= 1 June 2010|title= Inside The Wicker Man: How Not to Make a Cult Classic|publisher= Birlinn Ltd|page= 46|isbn= 978-1846971440|quote = [Anthony] Shaffer, meanwhile, had been impressed by the work of an American composer, Paul Giovanni, whose experimental folk-rock score for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night he had heard at a performance in Washington DC. More crucially perhaps, the composer was the boyfriend of Shaffer's brother, Peter.}}</ref> His later partner, New York-based voice teacher Robert Leonard, died in 1990 at the age of 49.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/peter-shaffer-elaborate-theatre-he-succeeded-equus-amadeus|title=Peter Shaffer wanted to make elaborate theatre – and he succeeded|first=Mark |last=Lawson |date=6 June 2016 |access-date=31 December 2016|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shenton |first1=Mark |title=Mark Shenton's week: Is gay theatre back on form? |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/mark-shentons-week-is-gay-theatre-back-on-form/ |date=3 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403121412/https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/mark-shentons-week-is-gay-theatre-back-on-form/ |archive-date=3 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Leonard; Voice Teacher, 49 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/17/obituaries/robert-leonard-voice-teacher-49.html |access-date=18 July 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=17 October 1990}}</ref> Peter Shaffer's final relationship was with the drama and music teacher Kevin Shancady.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Humm |first=Andy |date=April 13, 2017 |title=Gay City News |url=https://gaycitynews.com/peter-shaffers-coming-out-celebration/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Breen |first=Frank |date=April 4, 2012 |title=Patch News |url=https://patch.com/massachusetts/concord/cms-cast-party |website=patch.com}}</ref> Shaffer was given a Memorial Tribute on Broadway in 2017. He lived in Manhattan from the 1970s onward.<ref name = NYTObit />

While on a trip to [[Ireland]] shortly after his 90th birthday, Shaffer died on 6 June 2016 at a [[hospice]] facility in Curraheen, [[County Cork]].<ref name = NYTObit /><ref name=Birth>{{cite web|title=Birthdays today|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2013-5-15.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130515061228/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2013-5-15.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 15 May 2013 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |access-date=12 May 2014|date=15 May 2013|quote=Sir Peter Shaffer, playwright, is 87 }}</ref><ref name=death>{{cite web|title=Equus and Amadeus playwright Peter Shaffer dies aged 90 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/peter-shaffer-equus-amadeus-playwright-dies-aged-90|first=Maev |last=Kennedy |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=6 June 2016|date=6 June 2016}}</ref> Leonard and Shaffer are buried together in the east side of [[Highgate Cemetery]].

==Selected works==
*''{{vanchor|The Salt Land}}'' (Television, 1955)
*''[[Five Finger Exercise]]'' (1958)
*''{{vanchor|The Private Ear}}'' (1962) {{anchor|The Private Ear / The Public Eye}}
*''{{vanchor|The Public Eye}}'' (1962)<ref name=GuardianObit />
*''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun]]'' (1964 but completed by 1958), a theatre piece on [[Atahualpa]], the last emperor of the [[Tahuantinsuyu]].
*''[[Black Comedy (play)|Black Comedy]]'' (1965)
*''[[The White Liars]]'' (1967)
*''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]'' (1973)
*''[[Amadeus (play)|Amadeus]]'' (1979)
*''{{vanchor|Yonadab}}'' (1985)
*''[[Lettice and Lovage]]'' (1987)
*''{{vanchor|The Gift of the Gorgon}}'' (1992) <ref name=GuardianObit />
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===Detective novels co-written as Peter Antony===
Shaffer co-wrote three detective novels with his brother Anthony Shaffer under the pseudonym '''{{vanchor|Peter Antony}}'''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Room |first=Adrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSIhzKnNUf4C&q=%2522peter%2520antony%2522%2520pseudonym&pg=PA30 |title=Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins|edition=5|year=2014|publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5763-2 |language=en}}</ref>
*''{{vanchor|The Woman in the Wardrobe}}'' (1951)
*''[[How Doth the Little Crocodile?]]'' (1952)
*''[[Withered Murder]]''  (1955)
==Awards and honours==
In 1989 the [[Hamburg]]-based [[Alfred Toepfer Foundation]] awarded Shaffer its annual [[Shakespeare Prize]] in recognition of his life's work. In 1993, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) by the [[University of Bath]].<ref>{{cite web  |url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/  |title=Honorary Graduates 1989 to present  |publisher=[[University of Bath]]  |work=bath.ac.uk  |access-date=18 February 2012  |archive-date=19 December 2015  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219000643/http://www.bath.ac.uk/ceremonies/hongrads/  |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

Shaffer's play, ''Five Finger Exercise'' won the [[Evening Standard Theatre Awards|Evening Standard Drama Award]] when it premiered in London and then won the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle Award]] for Best Foreign Play when it moved to New York City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/production/five-finger-exercise-music-box-theatre-vault-0000002632|title=Five Finger Exercise Broadway @ Music Box Theatre |magazine=Playbill|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref>

Shaffer's play, ''Equus'' won the [[Tony Award for Best Play]] and the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] that year as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/history/pastwinners/index.html|title=Search Past Tony Awards Winners and Nominees|website=TonyAwards.com|language=EN|access-date=8 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dramacritics.org/dc_pastawards.html#1975|title=Past Awards|website=www.dramacritics.org|access-date=8 January 2019}}</ref> His screenplay adaptation of the play was nominated for a [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar]] in [[50th Academy Awards|1978]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1978|title=The 50th Academy Awards {{!}} 1978|website=Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=5 October 2014 |language=en|access-date=30 January 2019}}</ref>

Shaffer's play ''Amadeus'' won the [[Evening Standard Theatre Awards|Evening Standard Drama Award]] and the Theatre Critics' Award for its initial London production. Upon moving to Broadway, ''Amadeus'' won the [[35th Tony Awards|1981]] Tony Award for Best Play.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/history/pastwinners/index.html|title=Search Past Tony Awards Winners and Nominees|website=TonyAwards.com|language=EN|access-date=8 January 2019}}</ref> His screenplay adaptation of the play won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar as well as the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Golden Globe for Best Screenplay]] in 1984.

Shaffer's play ''Lettice and Lovage'' was nominated for another Tony Award, and for her performance in it, Dame Maggie Smith won the [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play|Tony Award for Best Leading Actress]] after three nominations in [[44th Tony Awards|1990]]. ''Lettice and Lovage'' also won [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play|Best Featured Actress]] for Margaret Tyzack and was nominated for [[Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play|Best Direction of a Play]] at the 1990's ceremony .<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawardsyear.cfm?year=1990#|title=1990 Tony Award Winners |website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref>

Shaffer was appointed a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in 1987 and named [[Knight Bachelor]] in the 2001 New Year's Honours. In 2007, he was inducted into the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/2008/01/30/Hall-of-Fame-theater-veterans-get-a-night-in-limelight/stories/200801300249|title=Hall of Fame: theater veterans get a night in limelight|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/06/sir-peter-shaffer-obituary Obituary] in ''[[The Guardian]]'' (6 June 2016)
*{{IMDb name|0787323}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110719060033/http://www.ingecenter.org/interviews/PeterShaffertext.htm Transcript and clips of an interview by Mike Wood for the William Inge Center for the Arts.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060404063101/http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/LitCheck/shafferp.htm List of Publications.]

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{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 1981-2000}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestScreenplayMotionPicture 1981-2000}}
{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay}}
}}

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