Biography of Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella was a British screenwriter, playwright, and film director, known for his Academy Award winning direction of The English Patient, for which he was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and for directing films such as Truly, Madly, Deeply and Cold Mountain, as well as directing opera. A native Englishman, Minghella abandoned a track as a PhD candidate, teaching classes in Samuel Beckett and Renaissance theater, to work as a director for the stage before transitioning into film. He died in 2008 from complications related to surgery treating tonsil cancer. His obituary in The New York Times praised his work, saying, "Mr. Minghella used expansive tastes in literature and a deep visual vocabulary to make lush films with complicated themes that found both audiences and accolades." Minghella's work on Ripley was nearly universally praised, and his sensitive and precise direction of the complicated and psychologically complex story is part of its wide appeal.


Study Guides on Works by Anthony Minghella