Verna Fields

Verna Fields (born March 21, 1918 in St. Louis , Missouri as Verna Hellman , † November 30, 1982 in Encino , Los Angeles ) was an American film editor .

The daughter of screenwriter Sam Hellman began working as an assistant editor in Hollywood during the 1940s . There she met the film editor Sam Fields. After the two married shortly thereafter, Verna Fields gave up her job. Sam Fields died in 1954, and Verna Fields returned to work as an editor.

Initially, she worked in television for series such as Death Valley Days , Sky King and The Tom Ewell Show . In the early 1960s Fields taught film editing at the University of California, Los Angeles and worked again on films such as El Cid (1961) by Anthony Mann , where she was responsible for the sound editing. During the 1960s, Fields worked on several documentaries for the Office of Economic Opportunity .

Her return to commercial film marked Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool from 1969. This was followed by Peter Bogdanovich's comedies Is' was, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973). That same year, Fields was responsible for editing George Lucas ' American Graffiti .

Fields was nominated for an Oscar in 1974 for her work on American Graffiti . Fields received the award for Best Film Editing two years later for Steven Spielberg's Jaws . Fields had worked with Spielberg at Sugarland Express as early as 1974 .

Filmography (selection)

• 1960: No star is lost (Studs Lonigan)
• 1963: The balcony ( The Balcony ) (sound editor)
• 1963: Ball dance after midnight (Cry of Battle)
• 1966: Country Boy
• 1966: Deathwatch
• 1967: Track of Thunder
• 1968: The Wild Racers
• 1969: Medium cool (Medium Cool)
• 1972: Is' what, Doc? (What's Up, Doc?)
• 1973: American Graffiti (American Graffiti)
• 1973: Paper Moon
• 1974: Daisy Miller (Daisy Miller)
• 1974: Memory of Us
• 1974: Sugarland Express (The Sugarland Express)
• 1975: Great White Shark (Jaws)

Web links

• Verna Fields in the Internet Movie Database (English)