William H. Reynolds
Encyclopedia
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
. He also was associated with two of the most infamous projects in film history, Ishtar
and Heaven's Gate
, which he executive produced.
Born in Elmira, New York
, Reynolds began his career in 1934 as a member of the swing gang
at 20th Century Fox
. He became a protégé
of film editor Robert Simpson, who brought him to Paramount Pictures
as his assistant in 1936. The following year, he edited his first project, the musical film
52nd Street. In 1942, he joined 20th Century Fox
, where he remained for twenty-eight years. It was there that he frequently collaborated with two notable directors. For Robert Wise
, he edited The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music
, The Sand Pebbles
, Star!
, and Two People
. His work for Joshua Logan
included Bus Stop
, South Pacific
, Fanny, and Ensign Pulver
.
Additional credits include Algiers
, Come to the Stable
, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
, Three Coins in the Fountain
, Good Morning, Miss Dove, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Carousel
, Compulsion
, Wild River
, Taras Bulba, Hello, Dolly!, The Great White Hope
, The Great Waldo Pepper
, Nijinsky
, Author! Author!
, The Little Drummer Girl
, Newsies
, and the television adaptation of Gypsy
.
Reynolds was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing seven times and won twice, for The Sound of Music and The Sting. He received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award
in 1991.
Reynolds died of cancer
in South Pasadena, California
.
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
, 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...
, The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
, and The Turning Point
The Turning Point (1977 film)
The Turning Point is a 1977 film written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. In starring roles were Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Browne, Tom Skerritt, Martha Scott, Anthony Zerbe, Marshall Thompson and James Mitchell.-Plot:This film tells the story of...
. He also was associated with two of the most infamous projects in film history, Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
and Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (film)
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
, which he executive produced.
Born in Elmira, New York
Elmira, New York
Elmira is a city in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses Chemung County, New York. The population was 29,200 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Chemung County.The City of Elmira is located in...
, Reynolds began his career in 1934 as a member of the swing gang
Swing gang
In film-making, a swing gang is one or more persons who make last-minute changes on a film set. This may include construction of new portions of a set the director requests or simply striking large furniture at a set dresser's request....
at 20th Century Fox
20th 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...
. He became a protégé
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
of film editor Robert Simpson, who brought him to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
as his assistant in 1936. The following year, he edited his first project, the musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
52nd Street. In 1942, he joined 20th Century Fox
20th 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...
, where he remained for twenty-eight years. It was there that he frequently collaborated with two notable directors. For Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
, he edited The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
, The Sand Pebbles
The Sand Pebbles
The Sand Pebbles is a 1962 novel by American author Richard McKenna about a Yangtze River gunboat in 1926. It was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post for the three issues from November 17, 1962 through December 1, 1962. The author completed it in May, 1962, just in time to enter it in the 1963...
, Star!
Star! (film)
Star! is a 1968 American musical film directed by Robert Wise. The screenplay by William Fairchild is based upon the life and career of British performer Gertrude Lawrence.-Plot:...
, and Two People
Two People (film)
Two People is a 1973 American drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Peter Fonda and Lindsay Wagner. The screenplay by Richard De Roy focuses on the brief relationship shared by a Vietnam War deserter and a fashion model.-Plot:...
. His work for Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
included Bus Stop
Bus Stop (film)
Bus Stop is a 1956 film directed by Joshua Logan for 20th Century Fox, starring Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray and Hope Lange...
, South Pacific
South Pacific (film)
South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
, Fanny, and Ensign Pulver
Ensign Pulver
Ensign Pulver is a 1964 American film and a sequel to the 1955 film Mister Roberts. The movie features Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau, Tommy Sands, Millie Perkins, Kay Medford, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gautier, George Lindsey, James Farentino, and James Coco.- Synopsis...
.
Additional credits include Algiers
Algiers (film)
Algiers is a 1938 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and starring Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie, and Hedy Lamarr. The Walter Wanger production was a remake of the successful 1937 French film Pépé le Moko, which derived its plot from the Henri La Barthe novel of the same name...
, Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable
Come to the Stable is a 1949 American film which tells the story of two French nuns who come to a small New England town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital...
, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Robert D. Webb. The screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides was inspired by Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare...
, Three Coins in the Fountain
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 film)
Three Coins in the Fountain is the 1954 film that introduced the song of the same name, which became an enduring standard. It tells the story of three American girls looking for romance in Rome while employed at the American Embassy...
, Good Morning, Miss Dove, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Carousel
Carousel (film)
Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
, Compulsion
Compulsion (film)
Compulsion, directed by Richard Fleischer, was a film made in 1959, based on the 1956 novel Compulsion by Meyer Levin, which in turn was based on the Leopold and Loeb trial. It was the first film Richard D. Zanuck produced.- Plot :...
, Wild River
Wild River
Wild River is a 1960 film directed by Elia Kazan starring Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Salmi and Jay C. Flippen filmed on location in the Tennessee Valley...
, Taras Bulba, Hello, Dolly!, The Great White Hope
The Great White Hope (film)
The Great White Hope is a 1970 biographical romantic drama film written and adapted from the Howard Sackler play of the same title. The film was directed by Martin Ritt, starring James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards and Moses Gunn...
, The Great Waldo Pepper
The Great Waldo Pepper
The Great Waldo Pepper is a 1975 drama film directed, produced, and co-written by George Roy Hill. It stars Robert Redford as a discontented airplane pilot in the years 1926-1931....
, Nijinsky
Nijinsky (film)
Nijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler, whose screenplay centers on the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky, used the legendary dancer's personal diaries and his wife's 1933 book Life of Nijinsky as his primary source materials.-Synopsis:The film...
, Author! Author!
Author! Author!
Author! Author! may refer to:In literature:* Author! Author! , autobiographical work by P. G. Wodehouse first published in 1953* Author! Author! , 1943 short story by Isaac Asimov...
, The Little Drummer Girl
The Little Drummer Girl (film)
The Little Drummer Girl is a 1984 American spy film directed by George Roy Hill and adapted from the 1983 novel The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré. It starred Diane Keaton, Yorgo Voyagis, Klaus Kinski and Thorley Walters....
, Newsies
Newsies
Newsies is a 1992 Disney musical film starring Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Bill Pullman. Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret also appeared in supporting roles. The movie is widely claimed to have gained a cult following after its initial failure at the box office...
, and the television adaptation of Gypsy
Gypsy (1993 film)
Gypsy is a 1993 musical television film directed by Emile Ardolino. The teleplay by Arthur Laurents is an adaptation of his book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable, which was based on Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee....
.
Reynolds was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing seven times and won twice, for The Sound of Music and The Sting. He received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award
American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award
The American Cinema Editors gives one or more Career Achievement Awards each year. The first awards were given in 1987; the winners have been:*2011: Michael Kahn and Michael Brown*2010: Paul LaMastra and Neil Travis*2009: Sidney Katz and Arthur Schmidt...
in 1991.
Reynolds died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in South Pasadena, California
South Pasadena, California
South Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,619, up from 24,292 at the 2000 census. It is located in in the West San Gabriel Valley...
.