Harold F. Kress

Kress also worked publicly to increase the recognition of editing as a component of Hollywood filmmaking. He was one-time President of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and a board member of the American Cinema Editors.

• Name — Harold F. Kress • Birth Name — Harold Frank Kress • Born — 26 June 1913 • Birthplace — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Occupation — Film editor, director • Years Active — 1933–1978 • Died — 18 September 1999 • Place of death — Palm Desert, California, U.S. • Spouse — Zelda Raphael Kress • Children — Carl Kress

Harold F. Kress was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Samuel Kress and Sophie Siegelman. The family moved to Los Angeles, where his father ran a restaurant in Hollywood. Kress was studying to become a lawyer at the University of California, Los Angeles until he unexpectedly received an opportunity from Irving Thalberg to work in the editing department at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio.

He worked for three years as an uncredited assistant on The Good Earth (1937). His first credit was for Broadway Serenade (directed by Robert Z. Leonard-1939). In that same year Kress worked on four other films. In the words of Tony Sloman, "MGM was the glamour film factory, the Rolls-Royce of Hollywood, and they put a new movie into production every 10 days. Kress's six (sic) films of 1939 (including Richard Thorpe's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as supervising editor) proved he could work well under pressure and was unfazed by glamour. In 1940 he went on to edit Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, one of Louis B. Mayer's favourite series episodes, Comrade X, starring the studio's pride and joy, the king of Hollywood himself, Clark Gable, and two extremely successful Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy vehicles titled Bitter Sweet and New Moon. The success of these films thrust Kress into the top rank of MGM feature editors." Kress edited the 1942 film Random Harvest that was directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and "was one of MGM's biggest hits in 1942—indeed, one of the biggest in the studio's history." Kress worked for thirty years at MGM. Although he directed a few documentaries and made a stab at directing features, his real niche was as an editor, where he was one of the most respected editors in the industry. Ronald Bergan noted that "working as he did in the commercial cinema, he was an adherent of the 'invisible cutting' and 'editing for continuity' school rather than the 'dynamic montage' techniques developed by early Russian cinema or the iconoclastic editing styles derived from the French New Wave."

Kress was married to Zelda Raphael, and predeceased her. They had one son, Carl, who also became a film editor who shared an Oscar with his father for 1974's The Towering Inferno.

After suffering from cancer for a number of years, Kress died in Palm Desert, California, on September 18, 1999, at the age of 86.

This filmography is based on the listing at the Internet Movie Database except as otherwise noted. • Year — Film — Director — Notes • 1939 — Broadway Serenade — Robert Z. Leonard • Remember? • It's a Wonderful World — W. S. Van Dyke • These Glamour Girls — S. Sylvan Simon • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Richard Thorpe — Supervising editor, uncredited. • 1940 — New Moon — Robert Z. Leonard W. S. Van Dyke • Andy Hardy Meets Debutante — George B. Seitz • Bitter Sweet — W. S. Van Dyke • Comrade X — King Vidor • 1941 — Rage in Heaven — W. S. Van Dyke Robert B. Sinclair Richard Thorpe • Unholy Partners — Mervyn LeRoy — The first of five films directed by LeRoy and edited by Kress. • H. M. Pulham, Esq. — King Vidor • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Victor Fleming — Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing • 1942 — Mrs. Miniver — William Wyler • Random Harvest — Mervyn LeRoy • 1943 — Madame Curie • Cabin in the Sky — Vincente Minnelli — The first of three films directed by Minnelli and edited by Kress. • 1946 — Dragon Seed — Harold S. Bucquet Jack Conway • 1947 — The Yearling — Clarence Brown — Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing • 1948 — A Date with Judy — Richard Thorpe • Command Decision — Sam Wood • 1949 — The Great Sinner — Robert Siodmak • East Side, West Side — Mervyn LeRoy • 1950 — The Miniver Story — H. C. Potter • 1951 — The Painted Hills — Himself — Director only • No Questions Asked • 1952 — Apache War Smoke • 1953 — Saadia — Albert Lewin • Ride, Vaquero! — John Farrow • 1954 — Rose Marie — Mervyn LeRoy — The fifth and final film directed by LeRoy and edited by Kress. • Green Fire — Andrew Marton • Valley of the Kings — Robert Pirosh • 1955 — I'll Cry Tomorrow — Daniel Mann • The Cobweb — Vincente Minnelli • The Prodigal — Richard Thorpe • 1956 — The Rack — Arnold Laven • The Teahouse of the August Moon — Daniel Mann • 1957 — Until They Sail — Robert Wise • Silk Stockings — Rouben Mamoulian • 1958 — Merry Andrew — Michael Kidd • Imitation General — George Marshall • 1959 — The World, the Flesh and the Devil — Ranald MacDougall • Count Your Blessings — Jean Negulesco • 1960 — Home from the Hill — Vincente Minnelli — The third and last film directed by Minnelli and edited by Kress. • 1961 — King of Kings — Nicholas Ray • 1962 — How the West Was Won — John Ford Henry Hathaway George Marshall — Academy Award for Best Film Editing ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic • 1963 — It Happened at the World's Fair — Norman Taurog — Uncredited. This was the last film Kress made at the MGM Studio; he'd worked for the studio for more than 25 years. • 1965 — The Greatest Story Ever Told — George Stevens • 1966 — Alvarez Kelly — Edward Dmytryk • 1967 — The Ambushers — Henry Levin • Luv — Clive Donner • 1968 — Star Spangled Salesman — Norman Maurer Wingate Smith • 1970 — I Walk the Line — John Frankenheimer — Supervising editor • 1971 — The Horsemen • 1972 — The Poseidon Adventure — Ronald Neame — Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic • Stand Up and Be Counted — Jackie Cooper • 1973 — The Iceman Cometh — John Frankenheimer • 1974 — 99 and 44/100% Dead • The Towering Inferno — John Guillermin — Academy Award for Best Film Editing Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic • 1976 — Gator — Burt Reynolds • 1977 — Viva Knievel! — Gordon Douglas • The Other Side of Midnight — Charles Jarrott • 1978 — The Swarm — Irwin Allen