‘Equus’ and ‘Amadeus’ playwright Peter Shaffer dies at 90

Playwright Peter Shaffer, whose durable, award-winning hits included “Equus” and “Amadeus,” has died at the age of 90.

Shaffer’s agent, Rupert Lord, says Shaffer died Monday while on a visit to southwest Ireland with friends and family.

Shaffer’s 18 plays included “Amadeus,” a drama about the rivalry between Mozart and less-talented composer Salieri that was turned into an Academy Award-winning film in 1984. The play is to be revived this fall at Britain’s National Theatre, with which Shaffer had a long association.

His 1973 play “Equus,” about a stable boy who inexplicably blinds a horse, was revived in 2007 as the stage debut for “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe.

Shaffer, who was Jewish, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001 and inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

— AP, Times of Israel staff