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Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, has died at the age of 54, his agent said today.
Minghella won the best director Academy award in 1997, the year in which the film won nine Oscars. He was also nominated for the best adapted screenwriting award in 2000 for The Talented Mr Ripley.
He had undergone an operation for cancer of the tonsils and neck last week and the operation seemed to have gone well. But he suffered a fatal haemorrhage at 5am today, his agent Leslee Dart said. "The surgery had gone well and they were very optimistic," she said. "But he developed a haemorrhage last night and they were not able to stop it."