Anthony Minghella

At 54 years old, Anthony Minghella has this physical status:

Career

Minghella's debut was a stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's Mobius the Stripper (1975), but it was his Whale Music (1985) that caught his attention. A Little Like Drowning (1978), Samuel Beckett's second bill, was his directorial debut and debut feature film as a director. He spent eight years on television, starting as a runner on Magpie before deciding to script edit the children's drama series Grange Hill for the BBC and later writing Jim Henson's The Storyteller series. Inspector Morse, an ITV detective drama, and Boon's long-running ITV drama were written by him. In the West End, Made in Bangkok (1986) had a massive success.

The success of radio were followed by a Giles Cooper Award for the radio drama Cigarettes and Chocolate, which was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1988. Following his death, it was revived on May 3rd, 2008 as a tribute to its author director. Juliet Stevenson, Bill Nighy, and Jenny Howe appeared in his film. Anton Lesser and Juliet Stevenson's first radio play Hang Up, which was part of the BBC Radio 4 Minghella season, was revived on May 10th.

Madly, Deeply (1990), a documentary drama written and directed for the BBC's Screen Two anthology strand, skipped TV broadcasting and instead received a cinema release. Despite the fact that Morse episode would have been a much more high-profile ll assignment, he turned down an invitation to force another Inspector Morse to do the job. Best Director (which he received) and Adapted Screenplay were two Academy Awards nominations for the English Patient (1996). Mr. Ripley, a teen actor who was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay, was also nominated for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

The No. 9 is the No. 1. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a pilot episode television adaptation that he co-wrote and directed, was broadcast on BBC One on March 23, 2008, attracting 6.3 million viewers. He also supported I Know I'm Not Alone, a film about musician Michael Franti's peacemaking expeditions into Iraq, Palestine, and Israel. In 2005, he arranged a Labour Party televised a party election. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were shown in the short film as collaborating together last year, but was chastised for being insincere: "The Anthony Minghella party political broadcast last year was full of body language fibs," Peter Collett, a psychologist at the University of Oxford. "I'll give you my full attention only if I think you are very popular or if I love you." They are laughing at each other like lovers on that party's political show. It's totally inaccurate."

With Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday celebrations, he returned to radio on BBC Radio 3 with Eyes Down Seeing (2006) with Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson, and David Threlfall. Puccini's Madama Butterfly made an operatic directorial debut. Premiered at the English National Opera (London, 2005), then at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (Vilnius, March 2006) and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (September 6, 2006). The former was broadcast live into cinemas around the world (7 March 2009) as part of the Met's HD series and is now available on DVD. The ENO's involvement was supposed to lead to further operatic projects, including the conductor and assisting with Osvaldo Golijov on a new opera for the Met and ENO, who was also responsible for the libretto and directing the performance.

The Anthony Minghella Theatre at the Quay Arts Centre was honoured by the event's patronage (Isle of Wight). He appeared in Atonement, a 2007 film in which the novelist central to the tale is interviewed by a television presenter.

Arthur Kopit (book) and Maury Yeston (score), his last project was the screenplay of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine (1982). It is based on the film 812. On the film version, he gave Michael Tolkin praise.

In his honor, the University of Reading's department of Film, Theatre & Television was established in 2012.

Source

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
• 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award – 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 Satellite Award – Best Adapted Screenplay 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)
• 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production for the English National Opera production of Madama Butterfly