Anthony Minghella

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Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella.jpg
Born (1954-01-06)6 January 1954
Ryde, Isle of Wight, England
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Hammersmith, London, England
Other names Anthony Minghella CBE
Occupation director, producer, screenwriter, actor
Years active 1981–2008
Spouse(s) Yvonne Miller (divorced)
Carolyn Jane Choa (m. 1985; his death 2008)
Children Max and Hannah

Anthony Minghella, CBE (6 January 1954 – 18 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.

He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The English Patient (1996). In addition, he received three more Academy Award nominations; he was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for both The English Patient (1996) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and was posthumously nominated for Best Picture for The Reader (2008), as a co-producer.

Early life

Minghella was born in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England that is a popular holiday resort. His family are well-known on the island, where they have run an eponymous business making and selling Italian-style ice cream since the 1950s.[1] His parents were Edoardo Minghella (an Italian immigrant) and Leeds-born Gloria Alberta (née Arcari).[2][3] His mother's ancestors originally came from Valvori, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy.[4][5]

One of five children, Minghella attended St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ryde; Sandown Grammar School and St John's College, Portsmouth. He attended the University of Hull, studying Drama.[6] After several years of teaching at the same university (Samuel Beckett and medieval theatre), he abandoned his pursuit of a PhD to work for the BBC.[7]

Career

His debut work was a stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's Mobius the Stripper (1975) and it was his Whale Music (1985) brought him notice.[8] His double bill of Samuel Beckett's Play and Happy Days was his directorial debut and debut feature film as a director was A Little Like Drowning (1978). 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 wrote several episodes of the ITV detective drama Inspector Morse and an episode of long-running ITV drama Boon. Made in Bangkok (1986) found mainstream success in the West End.

Radio success followed with a Giles Cooper Award for the radio drama Cigarettes and Chocolate[9] 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.[10]

Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), a feature drama written and directed for the BBC's Screen Two anthology strand, bypassed TV broadcast and instead had a cinema release. He bypassed an offer of another Inspector Morse directorial to do the project, the later he believed would have been a much higher-profile assignment. The English Patient (1996) brought him two Academy Awards nominations, Best Director (which he won) and Adapted Screenplay. He also received an Adapted Screenplay nomination for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a pilot episode television adaptation which he co-wrote and directed, was broadcast posthumously on BBC One (23 March 2008); 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."[11]

With Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday celebrations, he returned to radio on BBC Radio 3 with Eyes Down Looking (2006), with: Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson and David Threlfall.[12] An operatic directorial debut came with Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Premiered at the English National Opera (London, 2005), then at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (Vilnius, March 2006) and at the Metropolitan Opera (New York City, September 2006). The latter was transmitted live into cinemas worldwide (7 March 2008) as part of the Met's HD series and is now available on DVD. His was honoured with the naming of The Anthony Minghella Theatre at the Quay Arts Centre (Isle of Wight). He made an appearance in Atonement (film, 2007), as a television host interviewing the novelist central to the story.

His last work was the screenplay of the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine (1982); Arthur Kopit (book) and Maury Yeston (score). It is based on the film 8½. He shared credit with Michael Tolkin on the screenplay.

The Film, Theatre & Television department at the University of Reading, opened in 2012, was named in his honour.

Personal life and death

Minghella met his first wife, Yvonne Miller, when they were students.[13] They had one daughter, Hannah,[14] who worked as a production assistant on The Talented Mr. Ripley, and was President of Sony Pictures Animation[15] for a time before being named President of Production of Columbia Pictures, a position she still[when?] holds.[citation needed] Minghella and his first wife eventually divorced. In 1985, Minghella married Hong Kong–born choreographer and dancer Carolyn Jane Choa.[5] They had one son, Max, who is an actor.

Minghella's brother, Dominic Minghella, is the creator of the popular British television series Robin Hood and Doc Martin, and a scriptwriter. His sister Loretta is Director of Christian Aid,[16] 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 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.[17][18]

Minghella died of a haemorrhage on 18 March 2008 in Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith, following an operation the previous week to remove cancer of the tonsils and neck.[19][20]

Filmography

Director

Year Title Oscar
nominations		 Oscar
wins		 BAFTA
nominations		 BAFTA
wins		 Notes
1978
 A Little Like Drowning
1990
 Truly, Madly, Deeply
3
1
1993
 Mr. Wonderful
1996
 The English Patient
12
9
13
6
 Won Academy Award for Best Director; nominated for an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay
1999
 The Talented Mr. Ripley
5
7
1
 Nominated for an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay
2000
 Play
2003
 Cold Mountain
7
1
13
2
2006
 Breaking and Entering
2008
 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Producer

Year Title Notes
2002
 Heaven
The Quiet American Executive Producer
2005
 The Interpreter Executive Producer
2006
 Catch a Fire
Breaking and Entering
2007
 Michael Clayton Executive Producer
2008
 New York, I Love You Executive Producer
2008
 The Reader Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture posthumously
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Love You More

Writer

Year Title Notes
1990
 Truly, Madly, Deeply
1996
 The English Patient Nominated for an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay
1999
 The Talented Mr. Ripley Nominated for an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay
2003
 Cold Mountain
2006
 Breaking and Entering
2008
 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
2008
 New York, I Love You Segment
2009
 Nine

Actor

Year Title Role
1978
 A Little Like Drowning Eduardo
2007
 Atonement Interviewer

Selected plays

  • Whale Music (New End Theatre, Hampstead, June 1981); revived for radio, BBC Radio 4, 10 May 2008
  • Two Planks and a Passion[21] (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

References

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  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/100058 (subscription required)
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Minghella,_Anthony/Biography/; viewed 24 Jan 2014.
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  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Anthony Minghella portsmouthfc.co.uk, Official site, 18 March 2008
  18. ↑ Oliver Duff, Pandora: Director's dream for Pompey The Independent, 19 March 2008
  19. ↑ Oscar-winner Minghella dies after cancer op
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Set in 1392, the play by Anthony Minghella hilariously recounts the citizens of York staging a medieval production of the Mystery Plays, ready for King Richard II and Queen Anne's visit to the city. Suddenly the entire community of York explodes in a fever of affectation, expense and comical posturing, as rival guilds battle it out to impress the royal party with their wagon plays.

External links

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  1. REDIRECT Template:Academy Award for Best Director


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