One of the most renowned film-makers Britain has produced, he died from a haemorrhage days after an operation was said to have gone well.

He will chiefly be remembered for his films, from the BBC drama Truly, Madly, Deeply, to box office smash The English Patient, which won nine gongs at the 1996 Oscars.

He also made The Talented Mr Ripley starring Matt Damon, and Cold Mountain.

Opera buff

But as well as being a major Hollywood player, he was an accomplished playwright and a significant TV contributorm, writing episodes of Grange Hill and Inspector Morse.

And when he turned his hand to Opera, staging a version of Madame Butterfly for the English National Opera in 1995, it went down a storm.

Tragedy

His American publicist Leslee Dart said Minghella had surgery for cancer of the neck and tonsils last week.

"The surgery had gone well and they were very optimistic," she said.

"But he developed a haemarrhage and they were not able to stop it."

He leaves a wife, Carolyn Choa, and two children.

True collaborator

Actor Ralph Fiennes, who Minghella cast in The English Patient when he was a virtual unknown, said he was devastated.

"He delighted in the contribution of everyone (on The English Patient], he was a true collaborator," he said.

"His films deal with the redemptive power of love and extreme loneliness."

Fiennes said he will fondly remember him as a man who always "wanted to get to the heart of the matter".

Friend

Jude Law, the star of three of Minghella's works, said he had come to think of him as a friend.

"He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak and then put it on screen in a way that looked effortless," he said.

Charmer

And director of the UK Film Council, Alan Parker, said he was a "wonderful man" who was able to charm everyone from actors and film crews to politicians - so they could contribute more funds to the British film industry.

"He was very gracious and he was amazingly generous to me," Parker added.