Reginald Cuthbert Mills was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 film editor.

He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in modern languages in 1934. He spent World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 serving in the Royal Artillery

Royal Artillery

The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...

, and was stationed in an AA battery on the Thames Estuary

Thames Estuary

The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...

 throughout the whole of the London Blitz.

After the war he began a fruitful association with the film-making partnership of Michael Powell

Michael Powell (director)

Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...

 and Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a multiple-award-winning partnership known as The Archers and produced a series of classic British films, notably 49th Parallel , The...

, beginning in 1946 with A Matter of Life and Death, followed by Black Narcissus

Black Narcissus

Black Narcissus is a 1947 film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godden...

(1947). Mills received an Academy Award

Academy Award for Film Editing

The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...

 nomination in 1948 for his work on the duo's ballet masterpiece, The Red Shoes.

Mills edited many British films throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s, including The Spanish Gardener

The Spanish Gardener

The Spanish Gardener is a 1950 novel by A. J. Cronin which tells the story of a British diplomat, Harrington Brande, who is posted to Catalonia, Spain after his marriage collapses. The overbearing father becomes jealous of the evolving friendship between his young son, Nicholas, and the...

(1956), Joseph Losey

Joseph Losey

Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...

's The Servant (1963) and The Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Tales of Beatrix Potter

Tales of Beatrix Potter is a 1971 ballet film with a plot based on the children's stories of English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. The film was directed by Reginald Mills, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton , and starred artists of the Royal Ballet...

(1971).

He received BAFTA

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

 nominations for his work on two projects with director Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....

: Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)

Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 British-Italian cinematic adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name.The film was directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, and stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also...

(1968) and Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth (film)

Jesus of Nazareth is a 1977 Anglo-Italian television mini-series dramatising the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus based on the accounts in the four New Testament Gospels....

(1977). His last credit was as consulting editor on another Zeffirellli picture, The Champ

The Champ

The Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...

in 1979.

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