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Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella dies
British filmmaker Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for The English Patient and directed such hit movies as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain and Truly Madly Deeply, has died. He was 54.
- AP
- Published: 17:58 March 18, 2008
- Anthony Minghella won an Oscar for The English Patient.
- Image Credit: AP
London: Movie director Anthony Minghella has died, his agent said on Tuesday.
Minghella's agent, Judy Daish, confirmed the director's death, but further details were not immediately available.
Minghella, 54, won an Academy Award as best director for his 1996 film The English Patient - one of a series of classy literary adaptations that included The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain.
Minghella was recently in Botswana filming an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It is due to air on British television this week.
The book is the first in a series about the adventures of Botswanan private eye Precious Ramotswe, and a 13-part television series was recently commission by US network HBO.
Jeff Ramsay, press secretary to Botswanan President Festus Mogae, said Minghella's death was a "shock and an utter loss".
Ramsay said the director had been coming to the country ahead of the film and learning about Botswana.
"He had become known to quite a lot of people," the official said, adding that the list included Mogae.
"His Excellency met him and appreciated what he along with McCall Smith were doing. They were both very determined to try and get the film shot in Botswana and we appreciated that," he said.
Ramsay said Minghella had told him how he had been forced to shoot Cold Mountain - set in the United States - in Romania and that it had "seemed wrong". He said this made the director "more sure that the film could only be shot in Botswana". Minghella was a pleasant man who had had no airs or graces about him, he recalled.
"It was like he joined our community," Ramsay said.
Born in 1954, Minghella grew up on the Isle of Wight, a holiday island off England's southern coast where his parents ran an ice cream factory.
He worked as a television script editor before making his directing debut in 1990 with Truly, Madly, Deeply, a comedy about love and grief starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman.
His biggest hit was The English Patient, a romantic epic set against the backdrop of World War II that won nine Oscars, including one for best picture.
He was executive producer for last year's Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton.
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