Tributes were paid last night to Anthony Minghella, the screenwriter and Oscar-winning director, who died yesterday at the age of 54.

Minghella, the director of lauded movies such as The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley and Cold Mountain, died unexpectedly after undergoing an operation for a throat complaint last week.

Last night Alexander McCall Smith, the Scottish writer of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Minghella's latest film, which was to be premiered on TV this coming weekend, said he was "absolutely devastated" by the news, and the loss of a great talent for "Britain and the world".

He said he had received a message from Minghella's assistant last week saying that the director had fallen ill and was not sure whether he was going to make a showing of the film in London last night.

McCall Smith added: "I had no idea how bad it had got. He was a wonderful, talented, and kind man, whom I saw working at close hand.

"I hoped to see the film for the first time in his company, but that is now not to be. He recently showed me a scene from the film and I was in tears - I think it is a powerful and moving film and I would not have chosen any other director to do it."

Minghella, also chairman of the British Film Institute, died of a haemorrhage early yesterday morning.

His agent, 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."

Tributes last night came from people as diverse as film stars Jude Law and Ralph Fiennes, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the President of Botswana, where The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is based and was shot.

Law, who appeared in three of Minghella's films, said he was "deeply shocked and saddened".

Fiennes, who starred in Minghella's film The English Patient, said: "Anthony possessed a sensitivity and alertness to the actor's process that very few directors have."

A spokesman for President Festus Mogae, of Botswana, said Minghella's death was a "shock and an utter loss".

Minghella is survived by his wife, Carolyn Choa, his son Max Minghella, an actor, and his daughter Hannah.