Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter (1930–2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, and director whose work reshaped postwar theatre. Born in London, he emerged in the late 1950s with plays such as *The Birthday Party* (1958) and *The Caretaker* (1960), developing a distinctive style of pauses, subtext, and everyday speech later described as “Pinteresque.” His drama is often linked to the “comedy of menace,” blending humor with unease and threat. Pinter also wrote acclaimed screenplays, including *The Servant* (1963) and *The French Lieutenant’s Woman* (1981). He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005.