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 Hall died on Monday at University College
Hospital, London, surrounded by his family, the theater said in
a statement.
"Peter Hall was an internationally celebrated stage director and
theater impresario, whose influence on the artistic life of
Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled," it added.
Hall's career spanned more than half a century. In his mid-20s
he staged the English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's
"Waiting for Godot" and in 1960, aged 29, he founded the Royal
Shakespeare Company which he led until 1968.
Appointed Director of the National Theater in 1973, Hall was
responsible for the move from the Old Vic theater to its current
home in a purpose-built complex on the South Bank of the River
Thames.
His work as a theater director included the world premieres of
Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming" (1965), Peter Shaffer’s
"Amadeus" (1979) and the London and Broadway premieres of Alan
Ayckbourn's "Bedroom Farce" (1977). His last production at the
National Theater was "Twelfth Night" in 2011.
Hall, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2011, was also an
internationally renowned opera director and worked at many of
the world’s leading houses including The Royal Opera, the
Metropolitan Opera and Bayreuth.
Hall was born in November, 1930, the son of a railway
station-master in rural Suffolk.
From his local grammar school he won a scholarship to study
English at Cambridge University, where he often used the cheap
railway passes to which his father's occupation entitled him to
visit the bright lights of London's theater world.
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At the age of 23 he presented his first professional production.
He became assistant director at London's small Arts Theater in 1954,
taking over the directorship a year later. He began to make his name
with a series of controversial modern plays, including "Waiting for
Godot.
In that production, Hall chose to portray the two leading characters
as tramps - although there is no mention of this in the text - and
directly affected almost every subsequent production of the play.
Hall was married four times. In 1956, he hit the society columns
when he married French actress Leslie Caron, star of the film "“Gigi".
The couple had a son and a daughter before their divorce in 1965.
Later that year, Hall married Jacqueline Taylor, his former
secretary. The couple divorced in 1981 and Hall, who was knighted in
1977, married American opera singer Maria Ewing in February 1982.
His last marriage was to scriptwriter Nicky Frei.
National Theater director Rufus Norris said in a statement: "We all
stand on the shoulders of giants and Peter Hall’s shoulders
supported the entirety of British theater as we know it.
"All of us, including those in the new generation of theater-makers
not immediately touched by his influence, are in his debt. His
legendary tenacity and vision created an extraordinary and lasting
legacy for us all."
(Reporting by Nathan Lake; Editing by Stephen Addison)
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