Description

Admin History:

Anthony Minghella was a playwright, screenwriter and film director, working on stage, radio and screen. He was born in 1954 on the Isle of Wight, the son of ice-cream factory owners. He studied Drama at the University of Hull, graduating with a first class degree in Drama and went on to become a lecturer in the Department, staying at the University for ten years in total. Whilst at Hull he produced his first play, a stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's story 'Mobius the Stripper'. He studied for (but later abandoned) a doctoral thesis on Samuel Beckett, whose writing was a major influence on his work. He made his stage directoral debut with a double bill of Beckett's Play and Happy Days.

In the 1980s he was employed as a script writer and editor on various TV series, including 'Magpie', 'Grange Hill' and 'Inspector Morse'. The London Theatre Critics voted him Most Promising Playwright in 1984 and gave him a Best New Play award for 'Made in Bangkok' in 1986. His BBC radio play Hang Up won the Prix Italia in 1988 and 'Cigarettes and Chocolate' won the 1989 Giles Cooper Award and 1989 Sony Award.

He was awarded an honorary DLitt by the University in 1997.

Minghella achieved most fame as a screen writer and director, beginning with the film 'Truly, Madly, Deeply', which won several awards, including a BAFTA and Writer's Guild awards. He won an academy award in 1996 as director of 'The English Patient', for which he also co-wrote the screenplay. Other films include 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and 'Cold Mountain'.

In 2005 Minghella made his directoral debut in the field of opera, with a production of 'Madame Butterfly' at English National Opera. The production transferred to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2006.

One of his last projects was a television adaptation of 'The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency', which he co-wrote and directed, and which was broadcast after his death, in March 2008.

Description:

Draft scripts and screenplays for 'Cello' (later renamed 'Truly, Madly, Deeply'), 'The Talented Mr Ripley' and 'The English Patient'.