John Wood | British actor, 81

John Wood, 81, a Tony Award-winning British stage actor known for his agile interpretations of playwrights from Shakespeare to Stoppard, died in England on Saturday.

Mr. Wood died in his sleep, his agent told the Press Association, the British news service.

After beginning his career quietly in Britain in the mid-1950s, Mr. Wood attained international renown more than a decade later. By the late 1960s, critics on both sides of the Atlantic were praising his taut, finely honed stage presence and lightning verbal dexterity.

Mr. Wood, who appeared on Broadway a half-dozen times, won a Tony Award in 1976 as Henry Carr, the narrator of Tom Stoppard's farce Travesties. Stoppard had written the part of Carr - a historical figure who was a minor British consular official in the World War I era - specifically for Mr. Wood. Mr. Wood also won a Drama Desk Award for the role.

Mr. Wood also originated the role of Sidney Bruhl, the murderous playwright at the center of Deathtrap, Ira Levin's comic thriller, which opened on Broadway in 1978.

His screen work included the feature films WarGames, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Jane Eyre, as well as Orlando, Shadowlands, An Ideal Husband, Chocolat, and many British television shows. - N.Y. Times News Service