Mark Rylance is mourning his wife, theatre director and composer Claire van Kampen, following her death aged 71 on Saturday.
Mark confirmed the death of Claire, the first female musical director at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, in a statement to the BBC and other outlets. Tragically, the day on which she passed away happened to be the actor's 65th birthday.
In the statement, shared on behalf of the Wolf Hall star and Claire's daughter Juliet they called her, "one of the funniest and (most) inspiring women we have ever known".
She died, following a cancer diagnosis, in the German town of Kassel surrounded by her family, the statement said.
Mark and Juliet added: "We thank her for imbuing our lives with her magic, music, laughter, and love. Ring the bell, sound the trumpets reverie, something is done, something is beginning. One of the great wise ones has passed."
Like her husband, Claire was a leading light in U.K. theatre who wrote the play Farinelli And The King, which starred him and gained the couple Olivier and Tony Award nominations.
The couple married in 1989, the same year she composed music for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet in which he took the title role.
After joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986, Claire went on to enjoy a stellar career that also included composing scores for Broadway shows including True West, Boeing-Boeing and La Bete.
She also worked as a Tudor music advisor and arranger for the acclaimed BBC TV series Wolf Hall, which starred Mark as its central figure, Thomas Cromwell.
Claire had two daughters with her previous husband, architect Christopher van Kampen. The youngest, Natasha, died aged 28 after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 2012.
