Ralph E. Winters (June 17, 1909 – February 26, 2004) was a Canadian-born film editor who became one of the leading figures of this field in the American industry. After beginning on a series of

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

s in the early 1940s, including several in the

Dr. Kildare Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...

series, his first major film was

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of ...

's Victorian chiller ''

Gaslight Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

'' (1944). Winters won the

Academy Award for Best Film Editing The Academy Award for Best Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. For 33 consecutive years, ...

for ''

King Solomon's Mines ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the ...

'' (1950) (shared with

Conrad A. Nervig Conrad Albinus Nervig (June 24, 1889 – November 26, 1980) was an American film editor with 81 film credits. He began work in 1922 at Goldwyn Pictures, and remained with the studio after its merger to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1924. He ...

) and '' Ben-Hur'' (1959) (shared with John D. Dunning). He received four additional nominations: ''

Quo Vadis ''Quō vādis?'' (, ) is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you marching?". It is also commonly translated as "Where are you going?" or, poetically, "Whither goest thou?" The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Pete ...

'' (1951), ''

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' is a 1954 American musical film, directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and choreography by Michael Kidd. The screenplay, by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Do ...

'' (1954), ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Mancin ...

'' (1965) and ''

Kotch ''Kotch'' is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Jack Lemmon and starring Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman, and Ellen Geer. Adapted by John Paxton from Katharine Topkins' 1965 novel of the same name, the ...

'' (1971). Winters' other films included '' On the Town'' (1949), ''

High Society High society, sometimes simply society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open to men based ...

'' (1956), '' Jailhouse Rock'' (1957) and '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1968). Winters had a notable collaboration with director

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

. Over 20 years, they collaborated on 12 films together, including ''

The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...

'' (1963), '' The Party'' (1968), '' 10'' (1979) and ''

Victor/Victoria ''Victor/Victoria'' is a 1982 musical comedy film written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras, and John Rhys-Davies. The film was produced by Tony Adams and sco ...

'' (1982). His last film was the pirate epic ''

Cutthroat Island ''Cutthroat Island'' is a 1995 adventure swashbuckler film directed by Renny Harlin and written by Robert King and Marc Norman from a story by Michael Frost Beckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. It stars Geena Davis, Matthew ...

'' in 1995. Winters had been elected to membership in the

American Cinema Editors Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the post-nominal ...

, and in 1991, Winters received the organization's

career achievement award The Career Achievement Award, also referred to as the Career Achievement Medal, is an award of the Volcanology and Igneous Petrology Division of the Geological Association of Canada. First awarded in 1993, it is given to scientists "in recognition o ...

. His memoir, ''Some Cutting Remarks: Seventy Years a Film Editor'', was published in 2001.Winters, Ralph E. (2001). ''Some Cutting Remarks: Seventy Years a Film Editor'' (Scarecrow Press) .

References

External links

* 1909 births 2004 deaths American Cinema Editors American film editors Best Film Editing Academy Award winners Canadian film editors Canadian emigrants to the United States {{US-film-editor-stub

See also

References

External links