March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Anthony Minghella, the British filmmaker who specialized in adapting novels to the screen and won an Academy Award for directing ``The English Patient,'' has died. He was 54.

Minghella suffered a fatal hemorrhage early today at Charing Cross Hospital in London after undergoing an operation last week for a growth on his neck, the director's spokesman, Jonathan Rutter, said in an e-mailed statement.

His Oscar as best director for ``The English Patient'' (1996) was one of nine that the film won, including best picture. He also was nominated for writing the screenplay. He earned another Academy Award nomination for writing ``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999).

Minghella also wrote for theater, television and radio. He admitted feeling anxious about being accepted as a filmmaker.

``It is as if I have been working in a tunnel and I've no idea what the reaction is going to be,'' he said in a 2000 interview with the Sunday Times of London. ``It is a naked thing to admit, but I feel very strongly that I want people to appreciate that I am not just a flash in the pan. I still wonder if everyone is going to point and say, `He is not a proper film- maker.'''

Just this month, Minghella stepped down as chairman of the British Film Institute, succeeded by Greg Dyke. He had been reappointed to a second three-year term in January 2006.

Need More Movies

When he became chairman in 2003, Minghella told the British Broadcasting Corp.: ``We're not getting enough movies made here, our studios aren't busy enough, we don't have enough studios.''

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement, ``Anthony Minghella was a wonderful human being, creative and brilliant, but still humble, gentle and a joy to be with.''

Minghella adapted ``The English Patient,'' a story of pain and love during World War II, from a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. Its stars included Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Minghella described the movie as a major challenge.

``Any director looking at the film understands what was involved, not just because of the scale of the film but because of the film itself,'' he said in 1997. ``It has so many different types of activity in it. You go from romantic scenes in crowded ballrooms in Cairo to shooting desert landscapes and airplane crashes, to very intimate lovemaking scenes.''

Production Company

In 2000, Minghella joined Sydney Pollack -- who produced ``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' -- as a partner in Mirage Enterprises, Pollack's production company.

A 2006 biography of Minghella by the British Film Institute says Mirage ``has supported a number of distinctive filmmakers and their projects,'' including Phillip Noyce's 2002 movie ``The Quiet American.''

Minghella was born Jan. 6, 1954, in Ryde, on the U.K.'s Isle of Wight. He said studying drama at the University of Hull provided a welcome escape.

``I went there and did not leave for years,'' he said in 2000. ``I became a teacher and stayed until 26, spending a lot of time, by myself, in the library. I can definitely sympathize with the feelings of wanting to be someone else.''

Minghella also directed the films ``Cold Mountain'' (2003) and ``Mr. Wonderful'' (1993).

In 2006, he directed a production of Puccini's ``Madama Butterfly'' at New York's Metropolitan Opera, part of an effort to bring in new blood to enliven the repertoire.

In a review for Bloomberg News, Manuela Hoelterhoff wrote, ``The production is filled with beguiling ideas, including dancers, swathed spectral scene changers and a life-sized Japanese-style puppet replacing the small-boned child usually cast as Butterfly's toddler, Trouble.''

Minghella recently directed a television series for the BBC and HBO based on ``The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency,'' a set of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, Variety said. The TV series premieres later this month on BBC1.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington at larnold4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 18, 2008 13:30 EDT