Peter Zinner
Encyclopedia
Peter Zinner was an Austrian-born American filmmaker who worked as a film editor, sound editor, and producer. Following nearly fifteen years of uncredited work as an assistant sound editor, Zinner received credits on more than fifty films from 1959 - 2006.
, and studied music there in the Theresianum and at the Max Reinhardt Seminar
. Following the occupation of Austria by Germany
in 1938, Zinner and his parents, who were Jewish, emigrated. They went first to the Philippines
, and in 1940 to the United States
. As a young man, Zinner worked in Los Angeles
as a taxi driver and occasionally as a pianist at screenings of silent films.
. In 1947 he became an assistant sound-effects editor at Universal Studios
. Much of his work as an assistant sound and music editor is uncredited; he worked with composers Miklós Rózsa
, Jacques Ibert
, André Previn
, Adolf Deutsch, and Bernard Herrmann
on films including Quo Vadis
(1951), Singin' in the Rain
(1952), The Band Wagon
(1953), Gigi
(1958), and Gene Kelly's experimental Invitation to the Dance
(1956). His first credit as a music editor was for For the First Time (1959); his other credits for music include X-15
(1961), the US version of King Kong vs. Godzilla
(1962), and Lord Jim
(1965).
Zinner had wanted to move into film editing, and following his music-editing work with producer-director Richard Brooks
on Lord Jim, Brooks asked Zinner to edit The Professionals (1967) and In Cold Blood
(1967). His work on The Professionals was nominated for an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award. By 1970 Zinner had become sufficiently established as an editor that, when Aram Avakian
was dismissed as the editor during production of The Godfather
, Zinner was asked to edit latter half of the film; William H. Reynolds
edited the first half. The film, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola
, has been very successful with critics and at the box-office. One of its sequences has become an icon of film editing. As critic Tony Sloman
described it in 2007, "As the newly born child of Michael Corleone is christened, the young Don Michael, heir to the murdered Don Vito Corleone, wreaks his revenge on his enemies, eliminating them to the soundtrack of the priest's baby-blessing and the church's organ music. It is unquestionably one of the most dramatically satisfying and audience-shattering sequences in contemporary cinema, a magnificent example of the art of motion-picture editing, the craft of story-telling by montage. The editor of the sequence was Peter Zinner." Director Frank Pierson said, "...That's the kind of thing that he was brilliant at, and it's become a classic sequence in movie history."
Zinner was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing three times for his work on The Godfather
(1972), The Deer Hunter
(directed by Michael Cimino
-1978), and An Officer and a Gentleman
{directed by Taylor Hackford
-1982}. He won the Oscar, a BAFTA
, and an Eddie for The Deer Hunter. His work (with Barry Malkin
and Richard Marks
) on The Godfather Part II
(1974) earned a second BAFTA nomination. Zinner was nominated four times for Emmy Awards, and won for the miniseries War and Remembrance (1988) and for Citizen Cohn
(1992). His peers in the American Cinema Editors
honored him with six Eddie nominations of which he won four.
His many other film editing credits include Blake Edwards
' Gunn, Foolin' Around
, Darling Lili
, Dirty Pictures
, Crazy Joe, Mahogany, A Star is Born (with Barbra Streisand
) and Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture.
In 1990 he played the role of an admiral in the film The Hunt for Red October
. Zinner also produced four films. He directed The Salamander (1981) with Anthony Quinn
.
, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma
. His funeral was held on January 5, 2008.
Early life
He was born in Vienna, AustriaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and studied music there in the Theresianum and at the Max Reinhardt Seminar
Max Reinhardt Seminar
The Max Reinhardt Seminar is the School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Palais Cumberland, Penzingerstraße 9, in Vienna's 14th district - History :...
. Following the occupation of Austria by Germany
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in 1938, Zinner and his parents, who were Jewish, emigrated. They went first to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and in 1940 to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As a young man, Zinner worked in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
as a taxi driver and occasionally as a pianist at screenings of silent films.
Career
In 1943 Zinner became an apprentice film editor at the 20th Century Fox Studios20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. In 1947 he became an assistant sound-effects editor at Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. Much of his work as an assistant sound and music editor is uncredited; he worked with composers Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
, Jacques Ibert
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
, André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
, Adolf Deutsch, and Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
on films including Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis (1951 film)
Quo Vadis is a 1951 epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist, from a screenplay by John Lee Mahin, S. N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, adapted from Henryk Sienkiewicz's classic 1896 novel Quo Vadis. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography...
(1951), Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
(1952), The Band Wagon
The Band Wagon
The Band Wagon is a 1953 musical comedy film that many critics rank, along with Singin' in the Rain, as the finest of the MGM musicals, although it was only a modest box-office success. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway play will restart his career...
(1953), Gigi
Gigi (1958 film)
Gigi is a 1958 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette...
(1958), and Gene Kelly's experimental Invitation to the Dance
Invitation to the Dance (film)
Invitation to the Dance is a 1956 anthology film consisting of three distinct stories, all starring and directed by Gene Kelly.The film is unusual in that it has no spoken dialogue, with the characters performing their roles entirely through dance and mime...
(1956). His first credit as a music editor was for For the First Time (1959); his other credits for music include X-15
X-15 (film)
X-15 is a 1961 dramatic aviation film that presents a fictionalized account of the X-15 research rocket plane program, the test pilots who flew the aircraft and the associated NASA community that supported the program. X-15 starred David McLean, Charles Bronson, Mary Tyler Moore , Kenneth Tobey and...
(1961), the US version of King Kong vs. Godzilla
King Kong vs. Godzilla
is a 1962 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. Directed by Ishirō Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, and Mie Hama. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of films featuring the monster Godzilla...
(1962), and Lord Jim
Lord Jim (1965 film)
Lord Jim is a 1965 adventure film made by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by Richard Brooks with Jules Buck and Peter O'Toole as associate producers, from a screenplay by Brooks...
(1965).
Zinner had wanted to move into film editing, and following his music-editing work with producer-director Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer.-Early life and career:...
on Lord Jim, Brooks asked Zinner to edit The Professionals (1967) and In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood (film)
In Cold Blood is a 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. Richard Brooks prepared the adaptation and directed the film. Some scenes were filmed on the locations of the original events, in Garden City and Holcomb, Kansas including the Clutter residence...
(1967). His work on The Professionals was nominated for an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award. By 1970 Zinner had become sufficiently established as an editor that, when Aram Avakian
Aram Avakian
Aram A. Avakian was an American film editor and director.Directed ground-breaking indie film End of the Road- Life and work :...
was dismissed as the editor during production of The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, Zinner was asked to edit latter half of the film; William H. Reynolds
William H. Reynolds
William H. Reynolds was an American film editor whose career spanned six decades. His credits include such notable films as The Sound of Music, The Godfather, The Sting, and The Turning Point...
edited the first half. The film, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, has been very successful with critics and at the box-office. One of its sequences has become an icon of film editing. As critic Tony Sloman
Anthony Sloman
Anthony Barney Sloman is an English broadcaster, film critic, film director, film editor, film producer, lecturer, production manager, screenwriter, sound editor and actor....
described it in 2007, "As the newly born child of Michael Corleone is christened, the young Don Michael, heir to the murdered Don Vito Corleone, wreaks his revenge on his enemies, eliminating them to the soundtrack of the priest's baby-blessing and the church's organ music. It is unquestionably one of the most dramatically satisfying and audience-shattering sequences in contemporary cinema, a magnificent example of the art of motion-picture editing, the craft of story-telling by montage. The editor of the sequence was Peter Zinner." Director Frank Pierson said, "...That's the kind of thing that he was brilliant at, and it's become a classic sequence in movie history."
Zinner was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing three times for his work on The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
(1972), The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...
(directed by Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino
Michael Cimino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and author. He is best known for writing and directing Academy Award-winning The Deer Hunter and the infamous Heaven's Gate. His films are characterized by their striking visual style and controversial subject...
-1978), and An Officer and a Gentleman
An Officer and a Gentleman
A Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American drama film that tells the story of a U.S. Navy aviation officer candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford...
{directed by Taylor Hackford
Taylor Hackford
Taylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director, and the current president of the Directors Guild of America.-Early life:Hackford was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Mary , a waitress, and Joseph Hackford...
-1982}. He won the Oscar, a BAFTA
BAFTA Award for Best Editing
The BAFTA Award for Best Editing is one of several annual awards presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . The film-voting members of the Academy select the five nominated films in each category; only the principal editor for each film are named, which excludes additional...
, and an Eddie for The Deer Hunter. His work (with Barry Malkin
Barry Malkin
Barry M. Malkin is an American film editor with about 30 film credits. He is noted for his extended collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola, having edited most of Coppola's films from 1969-1997...
and Richard Marks
Richard Marks
Richard Marks is an American film editor with more than 30 editing credits for feature and television films dating from 1972. In an extended, notable collaboration , he has edited all of director James L...
) on The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
(1974) earned a second BAFTA nomination. Zinner was nominated four times for Emmy Awards, and won for the miniseries War and Remembrance (1988) and for Citizen Cohn
Citizen Cohn
Citizen Cohn is a 1992 cable film covering the life of Joseph McCarthy's controversial chief counsel Roy Cohn. James Woods, who starred as Cohn, was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance...
(1992). His peers in the American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors 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 itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
honored him with six Eddie nominations of which he won four.
His many other film editing credits include Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
' Gunn, Foolin' Around
Foolin' Around
Foolin' Around is a 1980 film directed by Richard T. Heffron and starring Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole. The film was shot on location in Minnesota.-Plot:...
, Darling Lili
Darling Lili
Darling Lili is a 1970 American musical film. The screenplay was written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, who also directed. The cast included Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and Jeremy Kemp.-Plot:...
, Dirty Pictures
Dirty Pictures (television movie)
Dirty Pictures is a 2000 American docudrama directed by Frank Pierson. The teleplay by Ilene Chaiken focuses on the 1990 trial of Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center director Dennis Barrie, who was accused of promoting pornography by presenting an exhibit of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe that...
, Crazy Joe, Mahogany, A Star is Born (with Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
) and Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture.
In 1990 he played the role of an admiral in the film The Hunt for Red October
The Hunt for Red October (film)
The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. It was directed by John McTiernan and stars Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan...
. Zinner also produced four films. He directed The Salamander (1981) with Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
.
Personal life
Zinner was married to Christa Zinner, an artist; their daughter, Katina Zinner, is an artist and film editor. He died on November 13, 2007, aged 88, in Santa Monica, CaliforniaSanta Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
The non-Hodgkin lymphomas are a diverse group of blood cancers that include any kind of lymphoma except Hodgkin's lymphomas. Types of NHL vary significantly in their severity, from indolent to very aggressive....
. His funeral was held on January 5, 2008.
External links
- "Obituary: Peter Zinner, Film editor who helped to make The Godfather and The Deer Hunter", The Times November 20, 2007. Online version retrieved July 5, 2008.