Mark Rylance announces wife Claire van Kampen has died on her birthday

Mark Rylance mourns the loss of his wife, Claire van Kampenwho died of cancer at the age of 71 on Saturday, January 18, his 65th birthday.

“Claire Louise van Kampen, Lady Rylance, has passed away this morning, Saturday, January 18, at 11:47 a.m. in the ancient city of Kassel, Germany, surrounded by her family,” Rylance and their daughter, Juliet, said in a statement. notification.

“Claire died of cancer on Mark Rylance's 65th birthday. Her youngest daughter died in 2012, she is survived by her eldest daughter Juliet Rylance, her two husbands and countless dear friends in England and America.

Claire – a British theater director and composer who was the first female musical director at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theater – was described by her family as 'one of the funniest and most inspiring women we've ever known'.

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“We thank her for infusing our lives with her magic, music, laughter and love,” they added.

Rylance married Claire in December 1989 and became stepfather to her children with her ex-husband Chris van Kampen: Juliet, 45, and Natasha, who died suddenly in 2012 aged 28 after suffering a brain haemorrhage on a flight from New York to London.

“It's uncharted territory when something tragic like that happens to you. You realize it's happened to a lot of people. You make your own decisions about how you're going to get through it,” Rylance said. The Sunday Times in 2016.

Following Natasha's death, Ryan was nominated for an Emmy and won a BAFTA for his portrayal of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's advisor and grieving father and widower in the series. Wolf grass. For his role in the film in 2015, he also received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor Steven Spielbergs Bridge of Spies.

Before her death, Claire was diagnosed with cancer. Born in London in 1953, she eventually attended the Royal College of Music, studying piano and music theory. BBC news. She then embarked on a theater career, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986 and the Royal National Theater a year later, where she met Rylance. She later became Rylance's artistic associate at the Globe Theater, where she worked for 20 years.

She composed original scores for Broadway productions including The real West, Boeing-Boeing and La Betteas well as Shakespearean adaptations Twelfth Night and Richard III.

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Dame Judi Dench started out in theater as Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet and became one of Britain's most successful actresses, appearing in films such as Chocolate, The Chronicles of Riddick and Shakespeare in Love. Born in North Yorkshire, England in 1934, Dench made her professional debut with the Old Vic Company in 1957. Dench had grown up (…)

“Claire completely changed my life… She introduced me to the world of classical and modern music and we fell in love directly with the music,” Rylance said of Claire in 2023. The Guardian.

“Claire came to me with two children that I raised with her and Chris, but we never had children of our own, so to a certain extent our projects have been our children. They're incredible,” he continued, adding that Claire was “the rock of my life.”