Brave upstanding character died after Pinter plays (8)
I believe the answer is:
intrepid
'brave' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'upstanding character died after pinter plays' is the wordplay.
'upstanding character' becomes 'I' (vertical or upright letter or character).
'died' becomes 'd'.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'plays' indicates an anagram.
'pinter' with letters rearranged gives 'ntrepi'.
'd' put after 'ntrepi' is 'ntrepid'.
'i'+'ntrepid'='INTREPID'
(Other definitions for intrepid that I've seen before include "Fearless, adventurous" , "Unfearing" , "Undaunted" , "Invulnerable to fear" , "Afraid not" .)