Pinter, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, had suffered from cancer for several years. 

"He was a great, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years," Fraser told the Guardian newspaper. "He will never be forgotten," she added.

Pinter was praised as the most influential British playwright of his generation and a loud voice of protest in the political arena. He was a vigorous campaigner against the Iraq war.

His distinctive contribution to the stage was enshrined in an adjective - "Pinteresque."

Pinters plays included "The Birthday Party", "The Dumb Waiter" and "The Homecoming". They often featured the slang language of his native east London as well as his trademark menacing pauses.

Pinter said he had stopped writing plays in 2005 and focused on poetry, alongside forays into acting and screenwriting.

Following treatment for cancer of the oesophagus diagnosed in 2002, he returned to the stage, winning rave reviews for his performance of Becketts monologue, "Krapps Last Tape", in London in 2006.