LONDON — British Nobel laureate Harold Pinter — who produced some of his generation's most influential dramas and became a staunch critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq — has died at 78.

He died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer, his widow said yesterday.

He seized the platform offered by his 2005 Nobel Literature prize to denounce President George W. Bush, former British prime minister Tony Blair and the war in Iraq.

But he was best known for exposing the complexities of the emotional battlefield.

His writing featured cool, menacing pauses in dialogue that reflected his characters' deep emotional struggles and spawned a new adjective found in several dictionaries: "Pinter-esque."

"Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles," the Nobel Academy said.

"How can you write a happy play?" Pinter once said. "Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life."

Pinter wrote 32 plays and one novel, 1990's "The Dwarfs." He also put his hand to 22 screenplays.

QUEEN URGES STIFF UPPER LIP

LONDON — Britain's Queen Elizabeth II delivered a somber Christmas broadcast yesterday, noting that the economic crisis has cast a shadow over the usually festive season and calling for courage in the tough times ahead.

The sober tone was in sharp contrast to last year's address, when she opined about the value of a happy family and of helping the disadvantaged.

Britain has taken a significant hit in the global economic downturn, with unemployment nearing 2 million.

"Christmas is a time for celebration, but this year it is a more somber occasion for many," the 82-year-old queen said in the prerecorded message from Buckingham Palace, where she stood in front of a grand piano covered with photos of Prince Charles, Princes William and Harry and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

'SOPRANOS' ACTOR APPARENT SUICIDE

NEW YORK — Police say the actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on "The Sopranos" has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New York.

John Costelloe was found dead in an apparent suicide at his Brooklyn home on Dec. 18.

Police were called to his residence after family members were unable to reach him.

The 47-year-old former New York City firefighter was cast in 2006 as short-order cook Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski opposite Joseph Gannascoli, who played gay mobster Vito Spatafore on the hit HBO show.

Costelloe was performing as a hustler in a theater production of "Gang of Seven" at the time of his death.

IN ALASKA, 'COFFEE' A DRUG CODEWORD

WASILLA, Alaska — The mother of Bristol Palin's boyfriend sent text messages to two police informants discussing drug transactions before her arrest on felony drug charges, authorities say.

An affidavit filed Monday says Sherry L. Johnston sent text messages referring to "coffee" as a code for the drug OxyContin.

Johnston, 42, was arrested last week after state troopers served a search warrant at her Wasilla home. She is out on bail.

Johnston is the mother of 18-year-old Levi Johnston. Gov. Sarah Palin announced in September that her 18-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant and that Levi Johnston is the father.