Film-maker Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54.

His spokespeople released this statement: ' Anthony Minghella died this morning at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, west London. He was operated on last week for a growth in his neck, and the operation seemed to have gone well. At 5am today he had a fatal haemorrhage.'

Minghella, whose directing credits include Truly, Madly, Deeply, The Talented Mr Ripley, The English Patient and Cold Mountain, was chairman of the British Film Institute until his term ended (as scheduled) at the end of December 2007.

In 1996, he won the Best Director Oscar for The English Patient and he was later nominated in the adapted screenplay category for The Talented Mr Ripley.

His latest production, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, will air on BBC One in the UK on Easter Sunday. HBO recently commissioned the Botswana-set TV project to become a series.

Minghella also served as a producer, for his own films including 2006's Breaking And Entering starring Jude Law, and for other directors - recently executive producing Michael Clayton.

He had been set to make one of the segments for the forthcoming omnibus film New York, I Love You, as well as to direct The Ninth Life Of Louis Drax (based on Liz Jensen's novel). Minghella was also one of the producers for Stephen Daldry's The Reader, which is still in production.

He jointly runs Mirage Enterprises with Sydney Pollack.

As an actor, Minghella also recently had a cameo in Joe Wright's Atonement.

Minghella also served as an honorary trustee of the Oscar Moore Foundation, the Screen International-supported scriptwriting foundation.

Minghella, born on the Isle Of Wight in 1954, was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2001.

He first worked in theatre before moving on to become a writer on the BBC's groundbreaking school drama Grange Hill before making his film debut in 1990 with Truly, Madly, Deeply starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson.

He is survived by his wife, choreographer Carolyn Choa, his actor son Max and his daughter Hannah, who was recently appointed president of production at Sony Pictures Animation.

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