Anthony Minghella dies, aged 54

Mar 18 2008

OSCAR-WINNING film director Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54, his publicist said today.

The British director is best known for The English Patient, Truly Madly Deeply and Cold Mountain.

Fellow filmaker Lord Puttnam said the death was a "shattering blow" to the film industry.

"I am shattered. He was a very important person in the film community because not only was he a fine, fine writer ... and made the transfer into becoming a really excellent director, he was also a really beautiful man.

"I just spoke to Alan Parker and it was the line Alan used: he was a beautiful man; he was a lot of fun to be with; he was thoughtful and intelligent.

"Most importantly of all for me, he was one of the few filmmakers who really stepped up to the responsibility - he worked his guts out at the BFI (British Film Institute) to be an effective chair and was an extremely effective chair with the result being that the BFI to an extent is rising from the ashes as never before.

"He's going to be hugely missed. This is a shattering blow from someone who was a major figure in an important industry and had a lot to go on and contribute."

Lord Puttnam said Minghella had been "a storyteller in the classic British tradition". He compared him with David Lean, saying he was particularly good at inspiring great performances from actresses.

A woman at the family home in Ryde on the Isle of Wight said they were too upset to comment when contacted this afternoon.

One of five children, Minghella grew up above the family's ice cream shop on the Isle of Wight, where the family still live and run a successful chain of shops.

Born of Italian parents, Minghella established his name firmly on the world stage in 1997 when The English Patient stole the headlines at the Oscars.

The film, an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel, almost swept the board at the ceremony, winning nine awards including Best Picture.

A former lecturer at Hull University, he cut his teeth as a script writer and director in television, working on the BBC children's programme Grange Hill, ITV's Inspector Morse and Muppet creator Jim Henson's very popular The Storyteller mini-series'.

But in 1991 he made his debut as a film director with the tear-jerker Truly, Madly, Deeply, starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson.

The quirky love and ghost story put him on the map and won him a Bafta and a Writers' Guild of Great Britain trophy, which were followed by several other major awards.

In 1993 he directed Mr Wonderful, with Matt Dillon and Mary Louise Parker.

He followed up the success of The English Patient with The Talented Mr Ripley.

More recently worked in Botswana with fellow Brit Richard Curtis making The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's hit novel.

The film is due to be screened on BBC One over Easter.