Playwright Wendy Wasserstein dies

Wasserstein wrote the screenplay to The Object of My Affection

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who won a Pulitzer Prize for The Heidi Chronicles, has died of cancer aged 55.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Wasserstein's plays depicted motherhood and sibling relations against a backdrop of feminism.

Her latest work, Third, opened off Broadway last year.

Actress Glenn Close said: "She had a wonderful take on feminist issues, and you just knew that she was someone who was going to make her mark."

Commercial success

Close was cast in uncommon Women and Others in 1977, the first of Wasserstein's plays to gain attention.

"She was very self-effacing and very smart and funny," Close said.

The Heidi Chronicles won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

It was also a commercial success and ran for more than 600 performances after its 1988 Broadway premiere. It was followed by The Sisters Rosensweig in 1993.

Wasserstein also wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film The Object of My Affection, which starred Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd.

Her Shiksa Goddess collection of essays included a piece on Wasserstein becoming a mother for the first time at the age of 48.

The playwright suffered from lymphoma, a type of cancer which affects the lymphatic system, and died at a New York hospital on Monday.