Dede Allen was a famous movie editor with a big talent

A great talent

Dede Allen was born in 1924. An editor, her creative cutting since the late 1950s has made her stand out as an exceptional talent in a field where few names are known, let alone remembered. One reason that Dede Allen has come to the forefront is that she has rarely been an “invisible” editor. One is often acutely aware of her work; it draws attention to itself but also tends to add an intellectual and emotional charge that is intrinsic to the story she is helping to tell. Her expressive editing has been greatly influenced by the French New Wave films of Truffaut and Godard.

Early career

Born Corothea Carothers Allen, she began her movie career as a messenger at Columbia Pictures. Fascinated by the technical means by which films were constructed, she eventually landed jobs in the editing department, slowly moving up the ladder from sound cutter to assistant editor (working on such films as the 1948 Because of Eve) and finally to editor in 1959 when she spliced together Odds Against Tomorrow for director ROBERT WISE, who had once been an editor himself.

Dede Allen went on to edit the films of a small coterie of directors who found her style eminently compatible with their own. She has worked most consistently with ARTHUR PENN, for whom she dazzled audiences with her much-admired editing of Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as well as Alice's Restaurant (1969), Little Big Man (1970), Night Moves (1975), and others. She also worked for, among others, SIDNEY LUMET, editing two of his best films, Serpico (1973) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Robert Rossen (The Hustler [1961]), Elia Kazan (America, America [1963]), and George Roy Hill (Slaughterhouse Five [1972] and Slap Shot [1977]).

Working with the stars

Actors who have benefited from her editing also come back to Dede Allen - especially when they become actordirectors. For instance, WARREN BEATTY and PAUL NEWMAN both starred in a number of Dede Allen–edited films, and she was first on their hiring list when they made their respective films, Reds (1981) and Harry and Son (1984). It's instructive that Dede Allen was also called in to try to save the virtually uneditable Debra Winger film, Mike's Murder (1984); she achieved a higher level of success than most people thought possible, although the movie was still a stinker.

Dede Allen continued working into the 1990s on films as diverse as Henry & June (1990) and The Addams Family (1991). At the age of 77, she returned to top form in her editing of Wonder Boys (2000), which earned an Academy Award nomination for editing. Also late in her career, in 1999, Dede Allen won the Outstanding Achievement in Editing Award at the third annual Hollywood Film Awards.

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