Intimidating and charming, and often both at once, Tom Stoppard, whose death was announced on Saturday, was a treasured collaborator to the hundreds of actors, directors and producers who worked on his plays. Here, 13 of them (plus Mick Jagger) try to find words for the man who always had the right ones.

Glenn Close

The actress won her first Tony Award, in 1984, starring in the original Broadway production of Stoppard’s “The Real Thing.”

He was the most elegant man, and I mean that in his thinking, in the way he smoked a cigarette, the way he tied a scarf around his neck, but also the way he thought. He was a giant and a genius. He wrote “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” in his 20s, and just to think of that premise is genius. And then “The Coast of Utopia” — God, I love that play.

In a day where our language is getting just ravaged, there’s a reason why great ideas have eloquence. Tom knew, as he said, what order to put the words in so that they actually move you. That’s a rare and incredible gift.

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