RIP: Anthony Minghella

It’s another sad day for movie fans (it seems like we’ve had a lot lately) as the movie world has lost one of its premiere storytellers. British director Anthony Minghella has passed away at the age of 54. MSNBC has revealed that Minghella died from a hemorrage after surgery to remove a growth on his neck, meaning that days ago he was more or less healthy.

Minghella emerged as a playwright on the London theatre scene to become one of Hollywood’s most respected and revered directors. In 1996 he adapted the novel The English Patient into a film which he directed, and which won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Minghella.

A pro at adapting acclaimed novels into equally acclaimed films, he went on to write and direct THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and COLD MOUNTAIN, both multiple Oscar nominees. Most recently, Minghella directed THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY, about a Botswanan woman who starts the country’s first female-owned private eye biz. It will air as a thirteen-part series on British television and HBO. Also, Minghella was one of the directors set to work on the anthology film NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU. No word on the status of his segment and how far into production it is.