Oscar-winning Anthony Minghella dies suddenly after operation

THE Oscar-winning film director Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54. Mr Minghella, who lived in South Hill Park, Hampstead, won his Oscar for the screen adaptation of The English Patient in 1997 and several awards for Truly Madly Deeply, which he

THE Oscar-winning film director Anthony Minghella has died suddenly at the age of 54 following an operation .

Mr Minghella died this morning at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, west London. The Ham&High understands that he was operated on last week for a growth in his neck, and the operation seemed to have gone well. But at 5am today he had what proved to be a fatal haemorrhage.

Mr Minghella, who lived in South Hill Park, Hampstead, won his Oscar for the screen adaptation of The English Patient in 1997 and several awards for Truly Madly Deeply, which he wrote and directed. He also received critical praise for The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain.

Born on the Isle of Wight, Mr Minghella was a playwright before making the move into TV. He worked as a script editor on Grange Hill and then wrote several episodes of the Inspector Morse series, before Truly Madly Deeply, which starred Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson, became a huge success.

He was awarded a CBE in 2001 and became chairman of the British Film Institute in 2003.

His most recently released film, Breaking and Entering (2006), was shot in Primrose Hill, South Hampstead and King's Cross.

Mr Minghella was in Botswana last year working on a TV adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

He is survived by Carolyn Choa, his wife, and his children Max and Hannah.