Sam O'Steen

On a 2012 listing of the 75 best-edited films of all time compiled by the Motion Picture Editors Guild based on a survey of its members, both The Graduate and Chinatown appear, Chinatown listed 31st and The Graduate 52nd.

• Name — Sam O'Steen • Birth Name — Samuel Alexander O'Steen • Born — 6 November 1923 • Birthplace — Paragould, Arkansas, U.S. • Died — 11 October 2000 • Place of death — Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. • Children — 4 • Occupation — Film editor • Awards — BAFTA Award for Best Editing (1968) The Graduate • Years Active — 1960–2000

O'Steen was born in Paragould, Arkansas but raised in California. As a child in Burbank, he would try to make it onto the Warner Bros. lot hoping it could be an entree to work in the editing room. He was finally able to secure a position as an assistant editor in 1956, when he became George Tomasini's assistant editor on Alfred Hitchcock's 1957 film The Wrong Man. As was typical at the time, he served as an assistant editor at Warner Bros. for eight years; his first credit as editor was on Youngblood Hawke (1964), which was directed by Delmer Daves. Within a year, O'Steen had become the editor on Mike Nichols' first film as a director, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. O'Steen was Nichols' principal editor for nearly thirty years, during which he edited twelve of Nichols' films; their last film together was Wolf (1994). O'Steen had been working as a principal editor for only three years when he edited Nichols' second film, The Graduate, but Patrick J. Sauer considers this film to be the epitome of O'Steen's editing: In his volume from the History of American Cinema series, Paul Monaco emphasizes the innovative aspects of the editing of The Graduate: • Illustration — Cover of Sam O'Steen's memoir Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies. O'Steen directed seven films for television in the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) and Kids Don't Tell (1985). He also directed one feature film, Sparkle (1976). His editing of The Graduate (1967) was honored by a BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and he was nominated for this award again for Chinatown (1974). He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), Chinatown (1974), and Silkwood (directed by Mike Nichols, 1983). In 1976, O'Steen won the "Most Outstanding Television Director" award from the Directors Guild of America (DGA). His film Queen of the Stardust Ballroom won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement Award in the category "Movies for Television and Mini-Series". He was also nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy" for his work on Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. O'Steen was married twice and had four daughters. His memoir, Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies, was published in 2001, shortly after his death. The book is written mostly as a transcript of O'Steen's responses to questions posed by his second wife, Bobbie (Meyer) O'Steen, with sidebars about individual films and filmmakers. Ray Zone characterized it as "one of the very best anecdotal histories of filmmaking in print."

• Year — Film — Director — Other notes • 1964 — Youngblood Hawke — Delmer Daves • Robin and the 7 Hoods — Gordon Douglas • Kisses for My President — Curtis Bernhardt • 1965 — None but the Brave — Frank Sinatra • Marriage on the Rocks — Jack Donohue • 1966 — Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — Mike Nichols — (nominated) Academy Award for Film Editing • 1967 — Hotel — Richard Quine • Cool Hand Luke — Stuart Rosenberg • The Graduate — Mike Nichols — BAFTA Award for Best Editing • 1968 — Rosemary's Baby — Roman Polanski • 1969 — The Sterile Cuckoo — Alan J. Pakula • 1970 — Catch-22 — Mike Nichols • 1971 — Carnal Knowledge — Mike Nichols • 1972 — Portnoy's Complaint — Ernest Lehman • 1973 — The Day of the Dolphin — Mike Nichols • 1974 — Chinatown — Roman Polanski — (nominated) BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Editing • 1976 — Sparkle — Sam O'Steen • 1978 — Straight Time — Ulu Grosbard • 1979 — Hurricane — Jan Troell • 1982 — Amityville II: The Possession — Damiano Damiani • 1983 — Silkwood — Mike Nichols — (nominated) Academy Award for Film Editing • 1986 — Heartburn — Mike Nichols • 1987 — Nadine — Robert Benton • 1988 — Frantic — Roman Polanski • Biloxi Blues — Mike Nichols • Working Girl — Mike Nichols • 1989 — A Dry White Season — Euzhan Palcy • 1990 — Postcards from the Edge — Mike Nichols • 1991 — Regarding Henry — Mike Nichols • 1992 — Consenting Adults — Alan J. Pakula • 1994 — Wolf — Mike Nichols • 1996 — Night Falls on Manhattan — Sidney Lumet • 1999 — The White River Kid — Arne Glimcher