DIRECTOR MINGHELLA DIES AGES 54 !

Anthony Minghella won an Oscar for directing The English Patient. British film director and writer Anthony Minghella has died aged 54. Minghella's films included The English Patient - which earned him an Oscar for best director in 1997 - as well as Truly, Madly, Deeply and Cold Mountain.
He had an operation for a growth in his neck last week and the operation seemed to have gone well. But he had a fatal haemorrhage at 0500 GMT on Monday.
Jude Law, who worked with Minghella on three films, said he was "deeply shocked and saddened" at the news. The actor described him as "a brilliantly talented writer and director" and "a sweet, warm, bright and funny man".
Film producer and friend Lord Puttnam said the industry would be "very shocked" to lose their "very well-loved" colleague.
"He started as a writer, he was not a stylist as a director," he said. "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 before 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."
Minghella has also directed a TV episode of book The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Cold Mountain (2003 - pictured)
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
The English Patient (1996)
Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991)A 90-minute pilot, directed by Minghella and co-written with Richard Curtis, is due to be broadcast on BBC One on Easter Sunday.
Minghella was also chairman of the British Film Institute.
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.
In 1999, he was nominated for an Oscar for writing The Talented Mr Ripley screenplay.
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.

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