Anthony Minghella

Published Wednesday 19 March 2008 at 13:40 by Patrick Newley

Multi-talented screenwriter, director and playwright Anthony Minghella found early cinema fame with the romantic Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) but it was his acclaimed, sweeping love story, The English Patient (1996) that earned nine Academy Awards including best director, along with a nomination for best adapted screenplay for his adaptation of Michael Ondnajte’s novel.

He followed up with the well-received period thriller The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), once again nominated for adapted screenplay.

Anthony Minghella was born on the Isle of Wight on January 6, 1954, the son of Edward and Gloria Minghella, ice cream factory owners. He was educated at Sandown Grammar School and St John’s College, Portsmouth. A graduate of the University of Hull he became involved in writing songs and playing keyboards for two bands Earthlight and Dancer fronted by Mike Jolliffe.

“This was a really important part of my life,” he said. “There was a rich music scene around at the time and for me writing songs developed later into writing plays. Music was a very vibrant ingredient in my life, and I originally saw my early plays as being a format for music.”

His first produced stage play was an adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici’s Mobius the Stripper (1975) but it was his 1985 Whale Music that brought him to the eye of the critics. He made his directorial debut with a double bill of Beckett plays, Play and Happy Days.

He moved into television and wrote and edited scripts for the children’s soap Grange Hill and later writing The Storyteller series for Jim Henson. He also write scripts for Inspector Morse and in 1986 his play Made in Bangkok had a run in the West End.

Truly, Madly, Deeply had originally been written and directed for the BBC but was released in cinemas instead.

After winning world wide fame with The English Patient he went on to produce several films including Iris (2001), Heaven (2002), The Quiet American (2002), The Interpreter (2005), Margaret (2008) and The Reader (2008).

When, in 2003, he was appointed chairman of the British Film Institute, he said: “We are not getting enough movies made here, our studio’s 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.”

At the time of his death he had completed work on the adaptation of The No 1 Detective Ladies Agency starring Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe.

Among his many theatre awards were the Critics Circle Award - Best New Play for Made in Bangkok (1986) and he won a Giles Cooper Award for his radio play Cigarettes and Chocolate (1988).

He died suddenly on March 18, 2008 from a fatal haemorrhage after surgery for throat cancer. The director had told only his friends and family about the condition. Minghella was married to choreographer Carolyn Choa. His brother, Dominic, is also a scriptwriter, and his son, Max, is an actor.

Paying tribute the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who appeared in a Labour Party election broadcast directed by Minghella in 2005, said: “He was one of Britain’s greatest creative talents and a great champion of the British film industry, and an expert of literature and opera. I counted him as a great friend.”

Ralph Fiennes, star of The English Patient, added: “He always wanted to get to the heart of the matter. His films deal with extreme aloneness and the redemptive power of love, even at the moment of death.”