Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella CBE
Minghella in 2003Born 6 January 1954(1954-01-06)
Ryde, Isle of Wight, EnglandDied 18 March 2008(aged 54)
London, EnglandOccupation Director, Producer, Screenwriter, and ActorYears active 1981—2008 Spouse(s) Carolyn Choa Awards won Academy Awards Best Director
1996 The English Patient BAFTA Awards Best Original Screenplay
1991 Truly Madly Deeply
Best Adapted Screenplay
1996 The English Patient
Best Film
1996 The English Patient
LA Britannia Award
2006 Artistic Excellence in Directing Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture - Drama
1996 The English PatientOther Awards NBR Award for Best Director
1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley
NBR Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2003 Cold Mountain

DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement
1997 The English Patient

Anthony Minghella CBE (January 6, 1954 — March 18, 2008) was an Academy Award-winning English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.

1 Biography
2 Filmography
3 Selected plays
4 Awards
5 References
6 External links

Biography

Early life

Minghella was born on the Isle of Wight at Ryde, the son of Gloria and Edward Minghella, ice cream factory owners.[1] His father was Italian/Scottish and his mother came from Leeds; her ancestors originally came from Valvori, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy. Minghella attended Sandown Grammar School and St John's College (Portsmouth). He was a graduate of the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and postgraduate courses, but eventually abandoned his doctoral thesis.

Career

His first piece of produced work was a 1975 stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's Mobius the Stripper; however, it was his 1985 piece Whale Music that kickstarted his career.[2] He made his directorial debut with a double bill of Samuel Beckett's Play and Happy Days. During the 1980s, he worked in television, starting as a runner on Magpie before moving into script editing the children's drama series Grange Hill for the BBC and later writing The Storyteller series for Jim Henson. He also wrote several episodes of the ITV detective drama Inspector Morse. His 1986 play Made in Bangkok found mainstream success in the West End.

Minghella won radio success with a Giles Cooper Award for his radio drama Cigarettes and Chocolate[3] first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1988. It was revived on 3 May 2008 as a tribute to its author director following his death. His production starred Juliet Stevenson, Bill Nighy and Jenny Howe. His first radio play Hang Up, starring Anton Lesser and Juliet Stevenson, was revived on 10 May 2008 as part of the BBC Radio 4 Minghella season.[4]

Minghella's 1990 feature Truly, Madly, Deeply, a drama he had written and directed for the BBC's Screen Two anthology strand, bypassed its expected TV broadcast and received a cinema release. In order to make the film, he had turned down an offer to direct another episode of Inspector Morse, which he had thought would be a much higher-profile assignment.

In 1996, he won the Academy Award for Directing for The English Patient. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay for 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The pilot episode of the television adaptation of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which he co-wrote and directed, was broadcast on BBC One shortly after his death on 23 March 2008; it was watched by 6.3 million viewers.

He vocally supported I Know I'm Not Alone, a film of musician Michael Franti's peacemaking excursions into Iraq, Palestine and Israel.

He directed a party election broadcast for the Labour Party in 2005. The short film depicted Tony Blair and Gordon Brown working together and was criticised for being insincere: "The Anthony Minghella party political broadcast last year was full of body language fibs", said Peter Collett, a psychologist at the University of Oxford. "When you are talking to me, I'll give you my full attention only if I think you are very high status or if I love you. On that party political broadcast, they are staring at each other like lovers. It is completely false."[5]

He returned to radio drama in 2006 with Eyes Down Looking on BBC Radio 3, starring Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson and David Threlfall to mark Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday celebrations.[6]

Minghella made his operatic debut directing Puccini's Madama Butterfly. It was first seen at the English National Opera in London in 2005, at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Vilnius in March 2006 and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in September 2006. The Anthony Minghella Theatre at Quay Arts Centre on the Isle of Wight is named in his honour. Minghella also made an appearance in the 2007 film Atonement, playing a television host interviewing the novelist whose role was central to the story.

Personal life

Minghella was married to Hong Kong-born choreographer Carolyn Choa. His brother, Dominic, is also a successful scriptwriter, and his son, Max, is an actor. His daughter Hannah worked as a production assistant on The Talented Mr. Ripley. His sister Edana participated in a jazz event on the Isle of Wight, and his nephew Dante is one of the participants in Channel 4's Child Genius series.

He was a big Portsmouth F.C. fan and appeared in the Channel 4 documentary Hallowed Be Thy Game. His home had two double bedrooms dedicated to the display of Portsmouth memorabilia dating back to the club's founding in 1898.[7][8]

Death

Minghella died on March 18, 2008 of a haemorrhage in Charing Cross Hospital, London, following an operation the previous week to remove cancer of the tonsils and neck.[9][10]

Filmography

Director

Year Title Oscar
nominations Oscar
wins Bafta Awards
nominations Bafta Awards
wins 1990 Truly, Madly, Deeply. . 3 1 1993 Mr. Wonderful 1996 The English Patient12 9 13 6 1999 The Talented Mr. Ripley5 . 7 1 2000 Play 2003 Cold Mountain7 1 13 2 2006 Breaking and Entering 2008 The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Producer

Year Title Notes 2001 Iris(executive) 2002 Heaven The Quiet American(executive) 2005 The Interpreter(executive) 2006 Catch a Fire Breaking and Entering 2007 Michael Clayton(executive) 2008 Margaret(executive) The Reader The No. 1 Ladies' Detective AgencyLove You More

Actor

Year Title Role 2007 AtonementInterviewer

Selected plays

Whale Music (New End Theatre, Hampstead, June 1981); revived for radio, BBC Radio 4, 10 May 2008
Two Planks And A Passion (Greenwich Theatre, November 1984)
A Little Like Drowning (Hampstead Theatre, July 1984)
Made In Bangkok (West End debut as a playwright, Aldwych Theatre. 18 March 1986, director Michael Blakemore)
Hang Up (radio play for BBC Radio 4,1987)
Cigarettes and Chocolate (60-minute radio play for BBC Radio 4, 1988)
Eyes Down Looking (Beckett 100th Birthday tribute, radio play for BBC Radio 3, 1 April 2006)

Awards

1984 Plays and Players: Critics Award - Most Promising Playwright for A Little Like Drowning
1986 Plays and Players: Critics Award - Best New Play for Made in Bangkok
1988 Giles Cooper Award for the radio play Cigarettes and Chocolate
1992 BAFTA Film Award - Best original screenplay for Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990)
1997 Academy Award - Best director for The English Patient (1996)
1997 BAFTA Film Award - Best film for The English Patient (1996) (shared with Saul Zaentz)
1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Director and Best Screenplay for The English Patient (1996)
1997 Directors Guild of America Award - Outstanding Achievement in Motion Pictures for The English Patient (1996)
1997 Golden Globe Award - Best Director for The English Patient (1996)
1999 National Board of Review Award - Best Director for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
2003 National Board of Review Award - Best Adapted Screenplay for Cold Mountain (2003)