[Deathwatch] Anthony Minghella, director, 54

[Deathwatch Central]

Many thanks to a long-time reader for this one...

'English Patient' director dead at 54

LONDON, England (AP) -- Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, who
turned such literary works as "The English Patient," "The Talented Mr.
Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" into acclaimed movies, has died. He was 54.


Minghella's death was confirmed Tuesday by his agent, Judy Daish. No
other details were immediately available.

"The English Patient," the 1996 World War II drama, won nine Academy
Awards, including best director for Minghella, best picture and best
supporting actress for Juliette Binoche.

Based on the celebrated novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, the
movie tells of a burn victim's tortured recollections of his misdeeds
in time of war. Minghella also was nominated for an Oscar for best
screenplay for "English Patient," and for his screenplay for "The
Talented Mr. Ripley."

Among his other acclaimed films were "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (1990), and
last year's Oscar-nominated "Michael Clayton," on which he was
executive producer.

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; a 13-part television series was recently
commissioned by HBO.

Minghella also turned his talents to opera. In 2005, he directed a
highly successful staging of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" at the
English National Opera in London. The following year, he staged it for
the season opener of New York's Metropolitan Opera. It was the first
performance at the Met under general manager Peter Gelb.

Jeff Ramsay, press secretary to Botswanan President Festus Mogae, said
Minghella's death was a "shock and an utter loss."

He said the director had been coming to the country ahead of the
detective film and learning about Botswana.

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."

Born the second of five children to southern Italian emigrants,
Minghella came to moviemaking from a flourishing playwriting career on
the London "fringe" and, in 1986, on the West End with the play, "Made
in Bangkok," a hard-hitting look at the sexual mores of a British tour
group in Thailand.

He worked as a television script editor before making his directing
debut with "Truly, Madly, Deeply," a comedy about love and grief
starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman.

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary