Anthony Minghella (6 January 1954 - 18 March 2008)

One of my favorite filmmakers is dead at 54. British writer/director Anthony Minghella brought consummate craftsmanship and a literary sensibility to films like The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Breaking and Entering. He considered himself first and foremost a writer, even as he brought locales as diverse as the North African desert, postwar Italy and 21st century London to vivid life on the screen. Last month Minghella discussed his life in pictures at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.