Film Editor Ralph E. Williams dead at age 94

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RALPH E. WINTERS, 94
Won film editing Oscar for `Ben-Hur'
Los Angeles Times
Published March 8, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- Ralph E. Winters, a two-time Academy Award-winning film editor whose nearly 70-year career began at the dawn of sound in movies and ended at the dawn of DVDs, has died. He was 94.
Mr. Winters, who received his best-editing Oscars for "King Solomon's Mines" and "Ben-Hur," died of natural causes Feb. 26 in Los Angeles.
In addition to his two Oscar wins, Mr. Winters received four other Academy Award nominations for best editing--for "Quo Vadis?," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "The Great Race" and "Kotch."
His more than 70 film credits also include "Gaslight," "On the Town," "High Society," "Butterfield 8," "The Hawaiians," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "The Thomas Crown Affair," "The Front Page" (1974 version) and "King Kong" (1976 version).
Mr. Winters also was a favorite of director Blake Edwards, for whom he edited 11 films, including "The Pink Panther," "A Shot in the Dark," "The Great Race," "10," "Victor/Victoria" and "S.O.B."
"Ralph Winters was not only a talented and gifted professional, he was a kind, thoughtful and joyful friend to be with. I'll miss him," Edwards said in a statement Friday.
As an editor, Mr. Winters is probably best-known for his work on "Ben-Hur," director William Wyler's 1959 Roman Empire-era epic, which received 11 Oscars.
It took him three months just to edit the film's famous chariot race between Ben-Hur, played by Charlton Heston, and Messala, played by Stephen Boyd.
"It's probably the most famous action scene ever put together," said Frank Urioste, senior vice president of feature development at Warner Bros. Pictures. "I think he was the best at his craft."
In 1928, Mr. Winters was hired as an 18-year-old assistant editor at MGM, where his father worked as a tailor in the wardrobe department.
"There are no miracles in film," Mr. Winters said in the book "Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing" by Vincent Lobrutto. As an editor, Mr. Winters said, "You're working with material you've been handed. There have been times that I have worked, strived and beaten my brains out, and sometimes I can't make a sequence look good because it just isn't there."
His last editing credit was on "Cutthroat Island," a 1995 action-adventure film.
He was president of the Motion Picture Editors Guild in 1965-66 and was governor for the editors' branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at various times between 1976 and 1990.
In 1951, he became a founding member of the American Cinema Editors, the industry's only honorary society of film editors. He served on its board of directors and was a four-time ACE Eddie Award nominee.
His autobiography, "Some Cutting Remarks: Seventy Years a Film Editor," was published in 2001.
Copyright Â© 2004, Chicago Tribune

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Topic - Film Editor Ralph E. Williams dead at age 94 - rico 09:14:04 03/08/04 (0)

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