Tributes have already begun to pour in for the director who was best known for The English Patient, which won nine Oscars, Truly Madly Deeply and American civil war epic Cold Mountain.

He died today after last week undergoing an operation on a growth in his neck.

His agents Judy Daish said: "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."

Fellow film director Lord Puttnam said his death was a "shattering blow" to the industry.

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

"I just spoke to Alan Parker and it was the line Alan used: he was a beautiful man; he was a lot of fun to be with; he was thoughtful and intelligent.

"Most importantly of all for me, he was one of the few filmmakers who really stepped up to the responsibility - he worked his guts out at the BFI (British Film Institute) to be an effective chair and was an extremely effective chair with the result being that the BFI to an extent is rising from the ashes as never before.

"He's going to be hugely missed. This is a shattering blow from someone who was a major figure in an important industry and had a lot to go on and contribute."

Lord Puttnam said Minghella had been "a storyteller in the classic British tradition" and compared him with David Lean, saying he was particularly good at inspiring great performances from actresses.

Former prime minister Tony Blair said Minghella, who directed him in a party election broadcast for Labour, was a "wonderful human being".

"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, personally or professionally, left me with complete admiration for him, as a character and as an artist of the highest calibre."

Minghella was born on the Isle of Wight, the son of Gloria and Edward Minghella, ice cream factory owners. His mother came from Leeds.

He was a graduate of the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and graduate courses and later taught, as head of drama.

In 1991, Minghella wrote and directed the tear-jerker Truly, Madly, Deeply for BBC Films, starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson which
won him a Bafta and a Writers' Guild of Great Britain trophy.

In 1993 he directed his second film, Mr Wonderful, with Matt Dillon and Mary Louise Parker.

He went on to direct hugely successful films such as The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003), as well as recently completing the The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency - due to be screened on TV next week.

Like other successful modern writers, he cut his teeth on the early episodes of the BBC1 children's programme Grange Hill.

He also regularly contributed to the ITV Inspector Morse series and won the 1984 London Theatre Critics' most promising playwright title. He was also chairman of the British Film Institute.

Minghella recently announced he was stepping down as head of the British Film Institute (BFI) after five years to focus on his work behind the camera.

He recently said: "I had never thought of myself as a director and found out that I was not.

"I am a writer who was able to direct the films that I write.
"It is as if I have been working in a tunnel and I've no idea what the reaction is going to be.

"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."

Minghella was awarded a CBE in 2001 and had two children with wife Carolyn Choa, son Max and daughter Hannah.