The news of Anthony Minghella's death, on March 18, aged 54, the result of a haemorrhage following surgery, brought a flood of tributes.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN, THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

"I am shocked and heartbroken that we have lost Anthony. He was my mentor, my partner and, most of all, my brother. The grace, joy and tenderness he brought to his films were symbolic of his life and the many people he touched."

SYDNEY POLLACK, BUSINESS PARTNER IN MIRAGE ENTERPRISES

"Anthony was a realistic romanticist: a kind of poet, disciplined by reality, an academic by training, a musician by nature, a compulsive reader by habit and, to most observers, a sunny soul who exuded a gentleness that should never have been mistaken for lack of tenacity and resolve. The cliche that you don't know anyone well until you've lived through wars with them is an absolute truth. Sometimes making films is a form of war. Having weathered several with Anthony, I will tell you his dignity never softened, his artistry never suffered, and his mind remained as sharp in wartime as in quietude."

JUDE LAW, ACTOR

"I worked with him on three films (The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain and Breaking And Entering), but had come to value him more as a friend than as a colleague. He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak. He made work feel like fun."

LORD PUTTNAM, PRODUCER

"He was a very important person in the film community, because not only was he a fine, fine writer ... (who) made the transfer into becoming a really excellent director, he was also a really beautiful man."

JOHN WOODWARD, CEO OF THE UK FILM COUNCIL

"Anthony was at home in many art forms but ultimately he was one of the great British film-makers of his generation. He sweated over every frame of every film, but his influence went beyond the films and he was a top ambassador for the industry, both in the UK and internationally. As chairman, he laid the foundations for the renaissance of the BFI."

Amanda Nevill, director of the British Film Institute "We are incredibly shocked and saddened as Anthony was so hugely loved across the BFI and so greatly admired throughout the film world and across the whole cultural landscape. He was an inspirational and charismatic figure who truly understood the power of film to change our understanding of the world we live in."

GORDON BROWN, UK PRIME MINISTER

"He was one of Britain's greatest creative talents, one of our finest screenwriters and directors, a great champion of the British film industry and expert on literature and opera."

TONY BLAIR, FORMER UK PRIME MINISTER

"I am really shocked and very sad. Anthony Minghella was a wonderful human being, creative and brilliant, but still humble, gentle and a joy to be with. Whatever I did with him ... left me with complete admiration for him, as a character and as an artist of the highest calibre."

IVOR BENJAMIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN

"Anthony's work exemplified in every way the very best directorial qualities. Artistically, philosophically, morally and technically he set standards that artists everywhere in the world aspire to."