Anthony Minghella: Difference between revisions
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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In 1985, Minghella married Hong Kong–born choreographer and dancer Carolyn Jane Choa.<ref name=oxfr1/> His brother, [[Dominic Minghella]], is the creator of the popular British television series ''[[Robin Hood (BBC)]]'' and ''[[Doc Martin]]'' |
In 1985, Minghella married Hong Kong–born choreographer and dancer Carolyn Jane Choa.<ref name=oxfr1/> His brother, [[Dominic Minghella]], is the creator of the popular British television series ''[[Robin Hood (BBC)]]'' and ''[[Doc Martin]]'' and is also a scriptwriter. Minghella's son, [[Max Minghella|Max]], is an actor. His daughter Hannah worked as a production assistant on ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' and is currently Co-President of Production at Sony Pictures. |
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| url = http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982486.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2563 |
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| title = Osher named Sony Digital president |
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| date = 14 March 2008 |
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| accessdate = 7 July 2009 |
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| work = [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |
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| author = David S. Cohen and Tatiana Siegel}}</ref> His sister Loretta is Director of Christian Aid,<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.christianaid.org.uk/aboutus/who/aboutus/directorate.aspx|title = Christian Aid About Us|accessdate=1 November 2010}}</ref> 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. |
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He was a big [[Portsmouth F.C.|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.<ref>[http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/?cms_id=78&qs_articleid=1033&qs_media=html ''Anthony Minghella''] ''portsmouthfc.co.uk'', Official site, 18 March 2008</ref><ref>Oliver Duff, |
He was a big [[Portsmouth F.C.|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.<ref>[http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/?cms_id=78&qs_articleid=1033&qs_media=html ''Anthony Minghella''] ''portsmouthfc.co.uk'', Official site, 18 March 2008</ref><ref>Oliver Duff, |
Revision as of 18:25, 11 December 2013
Anthony Minghella | |
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File:Anthony Minghella, (1954 — 2008).jpg | |
Born | Ryde, Isle of Wight, England | 6 January 1954
Died | 18 March 2008 Hammersmith, London, England | (aged 54)
Other names | Anthony Minghella CBE |
Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter, actor |
Years active | 1981–2008 |
Spouse | Carolyn Jane Choa |
Children | Max, 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), which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the BAFTA Award for Best Film and Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Early life
Minghella was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, the son of Gloria Alberta (née Arcari) and Edward Minghella, ice cream factory owners.[1][2] His father was an Italian immigrant and his mother was born in Leeds, to an Italian family;[3] her ancestors originally came from Valvori, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy.
Minghella attended St. Mary's Primary School, Ryde, Sandown Grammar School and St. John's, Portsmouth. He graduated from the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and postgraduate courses, but eventually abandoned his doctoral thesis.[citation needed]
Career
His first piece of produced work was a 1975 stage adaptation of Gabriel Josipovici's Mobius the Stripper and it was his 1985 piece Whale Music that kickstarted his career.[4] He made his directorial debut with a double bill of Samuel Beckett's Play and Happy Days. His first feature film as a director was A Little Like Drowning in 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 also wrote several episodes of the ITV detective drama Inspector Morse and an episode of long-running ITV drama Boon. His 1986 play Made in Bangkok found mainstream success in the West End.
Minghella won radio success with a Giles Cooper Award for his radio drama Cigarettes and Chocolate[5][dead link] 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.[6]
Minghella's 1990 feature Truly, Madly, Deeply, a drama he had written and directed for the BBC's Screen Two anthology strand, bypassed its expected TV broadcast and received a cinema release. In order to make the film, he had turned down an offer to direct another episode of Inspector Morse, which he had thought would be a much higher-profile assignment.
In 1996, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for The English Patient. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay for 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
The pilot episode of the television adaptation of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which he co-wrote and directed, was broadcast on BBC One shortly after his death on 23 March 2008; it was 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."[7]
He returned to radio drama in 2006 with Eyes Down Looking on BBC Radio 3, starring Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson and David Threlfall to mark Samuel Beckett's 100th birthday celebrations.[8]
Minghella made his operatic debut directing Puccini's Madama Butterfly. It was first seen at the English National Opera in London in 2005, at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Vilnius in March 2006 and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in September 2006. The Met's production has been transmitted live into movie theaters worldwide on March 7, 2008 part of the Met's HD series and is now available on DVD. The Anthony Minghella Theatre at the Quay Arts Centre on the Isle of Wight is named in his honour. Minghella also made an appearance in the 2007 film Atonement, playing a television host interviewing the novelist whose role was central to the story. Minghella died the day the film was released on home video.
Minghella's last work was the screenplay of the film adaptation of the 1982 Tony Award-winning musical Nine, based on the film 8½, book by Arthur Kopit, score by Maury Yeston. Minghella worked with Michael Tolkin on the screenplay, with whom he shared credit.
Personal life
In 1985, Minghella married Hong Kong–born choreographer and dancer Carolyn Jane Choa.[2] His brother, Dominic Minghella, is the creator of the popular British television series Robin Hood (BBC) and Doc Martin and is also a scriptwriter. Minghella's son, Max, is an actor. His daughter Hannah worked as a production assistant on The Talented Mr. Ripley and is currently Co-President of Production at Sony Pictures.
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.[9][10]
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.[11][12]
Filmography
Director
Year | Title | Oscar nominations |
Oscar wins |
BAFTA nominations |
BAFTA wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A Little Like Drowning | |||||
Truly, Madly, Deeply | |||||
Mr. Wonderful | |||||
The English Patient | |||||
The Talented Mr. Ripley | |||||
Play | |||||
Cold Mountain | |||||
Breaking and Entering | |||||
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency |
Producer
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
Iris | Executive Producer | |
Heaven | ||
The Quiet American | Executive Producer | |
The Interpreter | Executive Producer | |
Catch a Fire | ||
Breaking and Entering | ||
Michael Clayton | Executive Producer | |
The Reader | Nominated for an Academy Award posthumously | |
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency | ||
Love You More | ||
Margaret |
Actor
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
A Little Like Drowning | Eduardo | |
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[13] (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
- 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
- 1992 BAFTA Film Award – Best original screenplay for Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990)
- 1997 Academy Award – Best director for The English Patient (1996)
- 1997 BAFTA Film Award – Best film for The English Patient (1996) (shared with Saul Zaentz)
- 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
References
- Theatre Record and its indexes for play production dates and awards
- ^ "Anthony Minghella bio". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ a b http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/100058
- ^ Lyall, Sarah (14 December 2006). "In the Spotlight, Two Sides of London". The New York Times.
- ^ "Anthony Minghella at Hollywood.com". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "BBC – BBC Radio 4 Programmes – Saturday Play, Cigarettes and Chocolate". BBC News. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ Hemley, Matthew (25 April 2008). "BBC radio to air Minghella play season". The Stage. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ Henderson, Mark (6 September 2006). "The science behind their mutual dislike". The Times Online. London. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
- ^ Koek, Ariane (1 April 2006). "BBC – Radio 3 – The Verb – Beckett centenary". BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ Anthony Minghella portsmouthfc.co.uk, Official site, 18 March 2008
- ^ Oliver Duff, Pandora: Director's dream for Pompey The Independent, 19 March 2008
- ^ Oscar-winner Minghella dies after cancer op
- ^ Carr, David (18 March 2008). "Anthony Minghella, Director, Dies at 54". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ 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
- Anthony Minghella at IMDb
- Media Masterclass with Anthony Minghella on Directing Film
- Anthony Minghella: A Life in Pictures, BAFTA webcast, 2 December 2006
- Anthony Minghella interview with stv, November 2006
- "About Anthony", Minghella Film Festival, Isle of Wight
- Anthony Minghella – Obituary and public tribute
- Anthony Minghella, a brother to all he met by Dominic Minghella, 24 March 2008
- An Appreciation of Anthony Minghella by Charlie Rose, 24 March 2008
- Anthony Minghella, my teacher, my friend, by Harvey Weinstein, The Times, 10 April 2008
- Anthony Minghella remembered by Jude Law, The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008
- Minghella musical discovered, BBC Humberside.
- Obituaries:
- Tributes:
- Minghella Movie Marathon, BBC, updated 25 March 2009, accessed 22 July 2009.
- Minghella Movie Marathon, at British Film Institute, accessed 22 July 2009.
- More stars join Minghella marathon, iwcp.co.uk, 4 March 2009, accessed 22 July 2009.
- Anthony Minghella's family celebrates his memory with film festival, Syma Tariq, The Guardian, 12 March 2009, accessed 22 July 2009.
- 1954 births
- 2008 deaths
- English film directors
- English screenwriters
- English television writers
- British opera directors
- BAFTA winners (people)
- Best Director Academy Award winners
- Best British Director Empire Award winners
- Best Director Golden Globe winners
- Giles Cooper Award winners
- Laurence Olivier Award winners
- Alumni of the University of Hull
- English people of Italian descent
- People from Ryde
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Deaths from surgical complications
- German-language film directors
- Italian British film directors
- Patrons of schools
- Deaths from oral cancer
- Cancer deaths in England
- People educated at St John's College (Portsmouth)