Talent gone too early

In 1990, when I heard that Jim Henson had died of pneumonia, I was in shock for days. Only 53, he had created a whole world of delight for children and their parents. I was just a bit too old to have watched Sesame Street myself, but that didn't prevent me from being delighted by the characters of Kermit, Miss Piggy, and my own favorites, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster. To this day, I'm known to tell my friends to take their colds seriously. It floors me that someone as wonderful as Henson could die from a treatable disease like pneumonia.
In much the same way, I'm still in shock from the news this morning that film director Anthony Minghella has died. Not quite as prolific as Henson, still he created the same kind of magical worlds on film that drew you in and held you until he let you go. Seeing the movie Truly, Madly, Deeply was a life-changing experience for me. It's still one of the touchstones of my adult life. He followed it with the Oscar-winning film The English Patient, a work that the obituaries say he professed to be the pinnacle of his life's work. You may know his work as well from Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Just 54, he should of had years ahead of him in which to continue working in film (or whatever medium he chose) and I would have always trusted him enough to want to see what he was doing. I chose a photo of him from the movie set of the film that he's just completed, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency....a gentle comedy this time, but still a world that would not have existed without his own extraordinary vision.