Margaret Booth (January 16, 1898 – October 28, 2002) was an American
film editor
Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology.
The film edit ...
.
Early life and career
Born in Los Angeles, she started her Hollywood career as a "patcher", editing films by
D. W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...
, around 1915. Her brother was actor
Elmer Booth
William Elmer Booth (December 9, 1882 – June 16, 1915) was an American stage and film actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was the elder brother of Margaret Booth, a renowned film editor for Hollywood productions for nearly 70 year ...
. Later, she worked for
Louis B. Mayer when he was an independent film producer. When Mayer merged with others to form
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
in 1924, she worked as a director's assistant with that company. She edited several films starring
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
, including ''
Camille'' (1936).
Booth edited such diverse films as ''
Wise Girls'' (1929), ''
Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935, for which she was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
), ''
A Yank at Oxford
''A Yank at Oxford'' is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. The ...
'' (1938), ''
The Way We Were'' (1973), ''
The Sunshine Boys
''The Sunshine Boys'' is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
Plot
The pla ...
'' (1975), ''
The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), ''
The Cheap Detective
''The Cheap Detective'' is a 1978 American mystery comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.
It stars Peter Falk as Lou Peckinpaugh, a parody of Humphrey Bogart. The film is a parody of Bogart films such as '' Casablan ...
'' (1978), ''
Seems Like Old Times'' (1980), and ''
Annie'' (1982). She was supervising editor and associate producer on several films for producer
Ray Stark, culminating with executive producer credit on ''
The Slugger's Wife
''The Slugger's Wife'' is a 1985 romantic comedy film about a baseball star who falls for a singer. Written by Neil Simon, directed by Hal Ashby and produced by Ray Stark, the film stars Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay, and Randy Quaid. It w ...
'' (1985) when she was 87. Her list of official credits, however, represents only a fraction of her film work. In its 1982 article about Booth's long tenure as MGM's supervising film editor, the ''
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' describes her as "the final authority of every picture the studio made for 30 years."
Awards
The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
in 1978 presented her an
Academy Honorary Award
The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards (previously called the Special Award, which was first presented at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929) – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Moti ...
for her work in film editing. She is the second longest-lived person (after
Luise Rainer) to have been given an Oscar. In 1983, she was awarded the
Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. In 1990, Booth was also honored with the
American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award.
Death and legacy
Booth, at age 104, died in 2002 from complications after suffering a
stroke
A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...
. She is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood California. In its obituary for Booth, the British newspaper ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' states, "All the filmmakers had to go through her in order to have a final editing of sound and vision approved," while describing her approach: She was the first "cutter" to be called a "film editor."
Selected filmography
*''
Fine Clothes
''Fine Clothes'' is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Lewis Stone, Percy Marmont, and Alma Rubens. It is based on a play adapted from Ferenc Molnár's original.
The film's sets were designed by the art ...
'' (1925)
* ''
Memory Lane'' (1926)
* ''
The Enemy'' (1927)
* ''
Bringing Up Father
''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000.
The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or ...
'' (1928)
* ''
Wise Girls'' (1929)
* ''
Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935)
* ''
Camille'' (1936)
* ''
A Yank at Oxford
''A Yank at Oxford'' is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. The ...
'' (1938)
* ''
The Way We Were'' (1973)
* ''
The Sunshine Boys
''The Sunshine Boys'' is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
Plot
The pla ...
'' (1975)
* ''
The Goodbye Girl'' (1977)
* ''
The Cheap Detective
''The Cheap Detective'' is a 1978 American mystery comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.
It stars Peter Falk as Lou Peckinpaugh, a parody of Humphrey Bogart. The film is a parody of Bogart films such as '' Casablan ...
'' (1978)
* ''
Seems Like Old Times'' (1980)
* ''
Annie'' (1982)
See also
*
List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)
References
External links
*
Margaret Boothat Women Film Pioneers Project
October 31, 2002 obituary–
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
*Gomery, Douglas (2000)
"Margaret Booth,"in Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (editors), ''International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, Edition 4'' (St. James Press), . Online version of article retrieved December 24, 2007.
*Lewis, Kevin (2006)
in ''Editors Guild Magazine'', Vol 27, No. 2 (March–April 2006). Archived at WebCite fro
2008-06-22.
*
Literature on Margaret Booth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Margaret
1898 births
2002 deaths
Agnes Scott College people
American centenarians
American film editors
Film producers from California
Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery
People from Los Angeles
Academy Honorary Award recipients
Women film pioneers
American women film producers
American women film editors
Women centenarians
20th-century American women