http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/h...302841.stm



British film director and writer Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54, his agent has said.

Minghella, whose films include Truly, Madly, Deeply and Cold Mountain, was chairman of the British Film Institute.

In 1997, he won an Oscar for directing The English Patient and was nominated for writing the screenplay for 1999's The Talented Mr Ripley.

He has also directed a TV episode of book The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, due to be screened this Easter.

A 90-minute pilot, directed by Minghella and co-written with Richard Curtis, is due to be broadcast on BBC One.

Minghella's agent said she could not provide details of how he died.

Film producer and friend Lord Puttnam said the industry would be "very shocked" to lose their "very well-loved" colleague.

"He said in a lecture last week that he saw himself as a writer who happened to direct, which I think was probably right," he told BBC News.


"He started as a writer, he was not a stylist as a director. He saw himself as a storyteller and his films were very well told, beautifully made and beautifully acted."

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was directed by Minghella in a Labour Party broadcast ahead of the 2005 General Election, said: "Anthony Minghella was a wonderful human being, creative and brilliant, but still humble, gentle and a joy to be with.

"Whatever I did with him, personally or professionally, left me with complete admiration for him, as a character and as an artist of the highest calibre."

BBC film correspondent Tom Brook, speaking in New York, said Minghella was held in "very high regard by the artistic community".


"He's certainly one of the top directors of his generation in Britain and, in Hollywood, he was definitely held in high esteem so he was definitely in the top 10 directors as we stand now."

Minghella began his career as a writer with his early radio plays winning several awards.

He made his directorial debut in Truly, Madly, Deeply, in 1991.

He went on to write and direct film adaptations of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient and Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley.

He also directed 2003's Cold Mountain, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger, who won the best supporting actress Oscar for the film.

In 2005, Minghella directed his first opera, an English National Opera (ENO) production of Madama Butterfly, at the company's Coliseum home, in London.

When he took on the role of chairman of the British Film Institute (BFI) in 2003, Minghella said of the British film industry: "We're not getting enough movies made here, our studios aren't busy enough, we don't have enough studios.

"We're not good at lassoing the talent we have here and containing it within the British Isles, and we should all be working to address that."


[Edited 3/18/08 8:33am]

The Talented Mr Ripley is a great film.



54 is young.

"The English Patient" is a masterpiece. RIP, Tony.

OMG SO friggin' young!!

How sad...

I saw him on a documentary that was about the making of Cold Mountain.

LleeLlee said:

Yes it is.

Graycap23 said:

it didn´t do any justice to the book, imo

but I liked the english patient

very sad news