Harold Pinter - complex Nobel-winning dramatist

Harold Pinter was a Nobel-winning British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, most prominent from the 1960's to the 1980's. During his 50-year career he was recognised as one of the most complex and challenging post-World War II dramatists. The term 'Pinteresque' is now used to describe a cryptically mysterious situation imbued with hidden menace.

Pinter was born in Hackney, East London, in 1930, the only child of British Jewish parents of Eastern European descent. He experienced anti-Semitism during his childhood - which he indicated as having a strong influence on his work. He was evacuated from London during the War at the age of nine (returning aged twelve), and later noted that the wartime bombing always had a strong hold on him.

Pinter initially chose a career in acting, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1951-2. Pinter used the stage name David Baron. To supplement his income from acting, Pinter worked as a waiter, postman, bouncer, and snow-clearer, though harbouring ambitions as a poet and writer.

His first play The Room was a student production at the University of Bristol in 1957. Written in three days, it attracted the attention of producer Michael Codron - who put on Pinter's next play, The Birthday Party, at Hammersmith's Lyric Theatre in 1958. It was initially a commercial and critical flop, although it is now one of his best-regarded works.

Pinter's conclusive breakthrough came with The Caretaker, which premiered at London's Arts Theatre Club in 1959, transferred to the Duchess Theatre in 1960, and ran for 444 performances - receiving an Evening Standard Award for best play. Pinter went on to write numerous works for the stage, screen and television.

His prolific output was recognised in 2005 with the Nobel Prize for Literature. The judges stated that he 'uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms'. Because of illness, his acceptance lecture 'Art, Truth and Politics', was videotaped and broadcast on Channel Four. Pinter died in 2008.

The Comedy Theatre in London's West End was renamed The Harold Pinter Theatre in 2011.