Sam O'Steen

Infobox Actor
name = Sam O'Steen


caption =
birthname = Samuel Alexander O'Steen
birthdate = birth date|1923|11|6
birthplace = Paragould, Arkansas
deathdate = death date|2000|10|11
deathplace = Atlantic City, New Jersey
spouse =
parents =
occupation = film editor
academyawards =
baftaawards = Best Editing 1968 "The Graduate"
awards =

Samuel Alexander O'Steen (November 6, 1923 – October 11, 2000) was an American film editor and director. He had an extended, notable collaboration with the director Mike Nichols, with whom he edited twelve films between 1966 and 1994. Among the notable films that O'Steen edited were "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (directed by Mike Nichols, 1966), "Cool Hand Luke" (directed by Stuart Rosenberg, 1967), "The Graduate" (directed by Mike Nichols, 1967), "Rosemary's Baby" (directed by Roman Polanski, 1968), and "Chinatown" (directed by Roman Polanski, 1974). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E7DD173EF93BA25753C1A9669C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22Sam+O%27Steen%22&st=nyt "Sam O'Steen, 76, Film Editor Nominated 3 Times for Oscars"] , "The New York Times", October 18, 2000. Online version retrieved Feb. 11, 2008. Note that this article statement that O'Steen edited nine of Nichols' films is incorrect.]

As a child in Burbank, California, O'Steen would try to make it onto the Warner Bros. lot hoping that it could be an entree to work in the editing room. O'Steen was finally able to secure a position as an assistant editor in 1956, when he became the 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 Brothers for eight years; his first credit as editor was on "Youngblood Hawke" (1964), which was directed by Delmer Daves.Zone, Ray (undated). [http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0506/columns_cutprint.htm "Recalling the Esteemed O'Steen,"] "Editors' Guild Magazine" (undated). Online version retrieved Feb. 10, 2008.] 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).

Despite the fact that O'Steen had been editing for only three years when he did Nichols' second film, "The Graduate", Patrick J. Sauer considers this film to be an epitome of O'Steen's editing: [Sauer, Patrick J. (2000). [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ni-Po/O-steen-Sam.html "Sam O'Steen,"] in Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (editors), "International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, Edition 4" (St. James Press), ISBN 978-1558624498. Online version of article retrieved February 13, 2008.]

O'Steen directed seven films for television in the 1970s and 1980s, most notably the film "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" (1975). He also directed one feature film "Sparkle" (1976).

O'Steen's 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 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), and his film "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" won the "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television" award from the DGA. O'Steen 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 he had four daughters. [Vallance, Tom (2000). [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001110/ai_n14344668 "Obituary: Sam O'Steen,"] "The Independent (London)", Nov. 10, 2000. Online version retrieved Feb. 11, 2008.] Sam O'Steen's memoir of his editing career, "Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies", was published in 2001, shortly after O'Steen's death, by his second wife Bobbie O'Steen (née Meyer). [ [https://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthropology/cgi-bin/web/files/CASA_Newsletter05.pdf "CASA: Newsletter of the Stanford University program in cultural and social anthropology"] , Vol. 5, 2004/2005 issue. Online version retrieved Feb. 10, 2008. Bobbie Meyer graduated in 1974 from the program.] The book is written mostly as a transcript of Sam O'Steen's responses to questions posed by Bobbie O'Steen, with sidebars about individual films and filmmakers. Ray Zone has characterized it as "one of the very best anecdotal histories of filmmaking in print."

Filmography (Editor)

References

External links

Persondata
NAME = O'Steen, Sam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = O'Steen, Samuel Alexander
SHORT DESCRIPTION = film editor
DATE OF BIRTH = 1923-11-06
PLACE OF BIRTH = Paragould, Arkansas
DATE OF DEATH = 2000-10-11
PLACE OF DEATH = Atlantic City, New Jersey