(UNDATED) Any postmortem of Michael Jackson’s celebrity and his sad, bizarre life will include the devastating impact of an overbearing, emotionally abusive father.

The day after I learned of Jackson’s death, I met another father of a famous artist — and the contrast could not have been more profound.

It started with a simple introduction, “Dick, I’d like you to meet Edward, Anthony Minghella’s father.” I sat down next to Edward first on a ferry, and then on a train, from the Isle of Wight to Waterloo Station in London.

Anthony Minghella was an Oscar-winning writer and director whose films included “The English Patient” (1997), “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999) and “Cold Mountain” (2003). The film that launched his career was “Truly, Madly, Deeply” (1990).

Minghella’s extraordinary gifts led to his selection as director of “Madam Butterfly” for the Metropolitan Opera in 2006. He died in March 1998, just two months before his filmmaking business partner, Sydney Pollack. I’ve long admired Minghella’s intelligent, aesthetically lush films about issues and ideas that matter. Pollack and Minghella were known for their commitment to artistic excellence and to substance over celebrity.

A New York Times obituary described him this way: “With a large, bald head, and a thick frame, Mr. Minghella had the physical affect of dockworker, but when he opened his mouth, it was clear he was an omnivorously literate person.”

The elder Minghella is a humble, bright Italian immigrant who came to England by way of Scotland. When I asked what he did for a living, he said he had not done much in his life, when in fact he started an extremely successful company that manufactures premium ice creams in the UK. More importantly, he and his wife of 59 years built the foundation that allowed Anthony to fulfill his potential.

In this close-knit family, Edward’s singular aim in life was to secure for his children the formal education he never received, which meant both a classroom education and a home life filled with stacks of books and operatic music in the background.

The Minghella kids worked hard in the family business by day, and by night were voracious readers. Mom and dad regularly found them reading under the covers by flashlight after the lights were turned out.

Their Roman Catholic roots ran deep, and Edward was clearly more pleased with producing a good, substantial, spiritually rooted son than a famous one.

Edward was a witty and warm conversationalist and treated me (a stranger) and everyone else on the train with respect. The intrinsic worth of all people is a value he passed on to his children, and it showed in Anthony’s work and life. This probably explains why Anthony never thought of himself as a celebrity, and why, despite being busy, he phoned his father to chat every day. With his son’s death, Edward said tearfully, “the phone never rings anymore.”

Anthony inherited his father’s humility and did not expect to win any awards for “The English Patient” because, as he told his dad, “there are so many talented people nominated this year.” Nevertheless, Edward created a special flavor of ice cream for the Oscar celebration made of passion fruit, symbolizing Anthony’s love of his work, and champagne, to mark a celebratory milestone. The son won the Academy Award for directing, and the ice cream was a hit.

When Anthony died, Hollywood felt the loss of a talented filmmaker, but Edward and Gloria are still grieving the loss of a son into whom they had poured their lives and values.

Traveling with this gracious, wise, old-world gentleman, I saw that it was his family — not the ice cream business — that he invested his life in. His son’s films reflect the rich spiritual, intellectual and creative family life and values that were the fabric of his youth. His father wanted to make better ice cream, not just more ice cream, and the son applied these same ideals in his filmmaking career.

Minghella and Jackson were each products of their family. It is a sobering reminder that often you know the art by knowing the artist, and you know the artist by knowing his family.

(Dick Staub is the author of “The Culturally Savvy Christian” and the host of The Kindlings Muse (http://www.thekindlings.com). His blog can be read at http://www.dickstaub.com)