Wikipedia

Anne V. Coates

Anne Voase Coates[1] OBE (12 December 1925 – 8 May 2018) was a British film editor with a more than 60-year-long career.

Anne V. Coates
OBE
Born
Anne Voase Coates

(1925-12-12)12 December 1925
Reigate, Surrey, England
Died8 May 2018(2018-05-08) (aged 92)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Other namesAnne Coates
Anne Coates-Hickox
OccupationFilm editor
Years active1947–2015
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1958, divorced)​
Children3
AwardsAcademy Award for Best Film Editing
1963 Lawrence of Arabia
American Cinema Editors
1995 Career Achievement Award
2016
Academy Honorary Award

She was perhaps best known as the editor of David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia (1962), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Coates was also Oscar-nominated for Becket (1963), The Elephant Man (1980), In the Line of Fire (1993) and Out of Sight (1998).

Early life and education

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Coates was born in Reigate, Surrey, England, the daughter of Kathleen Voase (née Rank) and Major Laurence Calvert Coates.[2] Her first passion was horses. As a girl, she thought she might become a race-horse trainer.[3]

Coates attended the Reigate village school called the Micklefield School. She then attended High Trees School in Horley (Surrey). Her final school was Bartrum Gables in Broadstairs (Kent).[4]

Before becoming a film editor, she worked as a nurse at Sir Archibald McIndoe's pioneering plastic surgery hospital in East Grinstead, England.[5]

Career

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Coates became interested in cinema after seeing Wuthering Heights (1939) directed by William Wyler.[6] She decided to pursue film directing and started working as an assistant at a production company specializing in religious films (also doing projectionist and sound recording work). There she fixed film prints of religious short films before sending them to various British church tours. This splicing work eventually led to the rare job as an assistant film editor at Pinewood Studios, where she worked on various films. Her first experience was assisting for film editor Reggie Mills.[3]

Coates later worked with film director David Lean on Lawrence of Arabia. She had a long and varied career, and continued to edit films, including Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich (both for Steven Soderbergh). Coates was a member of both the Guild of British Film and Television Editors (GBFTE) and American Cinema Editors (ACE).

Variety's Eileen Kowalski noted "many of the editorial greats have been women: Margaret Booth, Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker, Anne V. Coates and Dorothy Spencer."[7]

Personal life

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Marriage and family

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Coates was at the centre of a film industry family. Besides being the niece of J. Arthur Rank, she was married to the director Douglas Hickox for many years.[8] Her brother, John Coates, was a producer (The Snowman and Yellow Submarine). Her sons, Anthony Hickox (1959-2023) and James Hickox (b. 1965) were film directors. Her daughter Emma E. Hickox (b. 1964) is a film editor.[8]

Death

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Coates died on 8 May 2018, aged 92, at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.[9][6]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Project Director Notes Ref.
1947 The End of the River Second editor (uncredited) [10]
1949 The History of Mr. Polly assistant editor (uncredited) [10]
1952 The Pickwick Papers Noel Langley [11]
1953 Grand National Night Bob McNaught [11]
1954 Forbidden Cargo Harold French [11]
1955 To Paris with Love Robert Hamer [11]
1956 Lost Guy Green [11]
1957 The Truth About Women Muriel Box [11]
1958 The Horse's Mouth Ronald Neame [11]
1960 Tunes of Glory [11]
1961 Don't Bother to Knock Cyril Frankel [11]
1962 Lawrence of Arabia David Lean [11]
1964 Becket Peter Glenville [11]
1965 Young Cassidy Jack Cardiff / John Ford [11]
1965 Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines Ken Annakin [11]
1966 Hotel Paradiso Peter Glenville [11]
1968 Great Catherine Gordon Flemyng [11]
1970 The Adventurers Lewis Gilbert [11]
1971 Friends [11]
1972 Follow Me! Carol Reed [11]
1973 Bequest to the Nation James Cellan Jones [11]
1974 11 Harrowhouse Aram Avakian [11]
1974 Murder on the Orient Express Sidney Lumet [11]
1975 Man Friday Jack Gold [11]
1976 Aces High [11]
1976 The Eagle Has Landed John Sturges [11]
1978 The Legacy Richard Marquand [11]
1980 The Elephant Man David Lynch [11]
1981 The Bushido Blade Tom Kotani Supervising editor with Yoshitami Kuroiwa [11]
1981 Ragtime Milos Forman [11]
1983 The Pirates of Penzance Wilford Leach [11]
1984 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Hugh Hudson [11]
1986 Lady Jane Trevor Nunn [11]
1986 Raw Deal John Irvin [11]
1987 Masters of the Universe Gary Goddard [11]
1989 Lawrence of Arabia David Lean Restoration of 1962 film [11]
1989 Farewell to the King John Milius [11]
1989 Listen to Me Douglas Day Stewart [11]
1990 I Love You to Death Lawrence Kasdan [11]
1991 What About Bob? Frank Oz [11]
1992 Chaplin Richard Attenborough [11]
1993 In the Line of Fire Wolfgang Petersen [11]
1994 Pontiac Moon Peter Medak [11]
1995 Congo Frank Marshall [11]
1996 Striptease Andrew Bergman [11]
1997 Out to Sea Martha Coolidge [11]
1998 Out of Sight Steven Soderbergh [11]
2000 Erin Brockovich [11]
2000 Passion of Mind Alain Berliner [11]
2001 Sweet November Pat O'Connor [11]
2002 Unfaithful Adrian Lyne [11]
2004 Taking Lives D.J. Caruso [11]
2006 Catch and Release Susannah Grant [11]
2007 The Golden Compass Chris Weitz [11]
2010 Extraordinary Measures Tom Vaughan [11]
2015 Fifty Shades of Grey Sam Taylor-Johnson [11]

Television

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Year Project Notes Ref.
1972 A War of Children Television movie [11]
1973 ITV Saturday Night Theatre Episode: "Catholics" [11]
2000 Fail Safe Television movie [11]

Style and recognition

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In an industry where women accounted for only 16 per cent of all editors working on the top 250 films of 2004, and 80 per cent of the films had absolutely no women on their editing teams at all, Coates thrived as a top film editor.[12] She was awarded BAFTA's highest honour, a BAFTA Fellowship, in February 2007[13] and was given an Academy Honorary Award, which are popularly known as a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, in November 2016 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[14][15]

Over the course of her career she has stated her style as being:

  • "In a way, I've never looked at myself as a woman in the business. I've just looked at myself as an editor. I mean, I'm sure I've been turned down because I'm a woman, but then other times I've been used because they wanted a woman editor."[3]
  • "...I guess I've been lucky that most of the time I've been in the same direction as the director. I try to work with directors whose work I like and find interesting. When I was younger, I had to find work where I could, and I had some not great experiences with directors."[3]
  • "You have the courage of your convictions. When you're editing you have to make thousands of decisions every day and if you dither over them all the time, you'll never get anything done."[16]
  • "I seem to get the rhythm from the performances. I like to feel I'm very much an actor's editor. I look very much to the performances and cut very much for performances rather than the action. I think that's important, what's in the eyes of the actor."[16]

Awards and nominations

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Award Year Category Project Result Ref.
Academy Award 1962 Best Film Editing Lawrence of Arabia Won
1964 Becket Nominated
1980 The Elephant Man Nominated
1993 In the Line of Fire Nominated
1999 Out of Sight Nominated
2017 Academy Honorary Award Honored [17]
BAFTA Awards 1975 BAFTA Award for Best Editing Murder on the Orient Express Nominated
1981 The Elephant Man Nominated
1993 In the Line of Fire Nominated
2001 Erin Brockovich Nominated
2007 BAFTA Fellowship Honored [18]
American Cinema Editors 1963 Best Edited Feature Film Lawrence of Arabia Nominated [10]
1965 Becket Nominated [10]
1994 In the Line of Fire Nominated [10]
1995 Career Achievement Award Honored [10]
1998 Best Edited Feature Film Out of Sight Nominated [10]

References

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  1. ^ "BFI biodata". Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  2. ^ "Anne V. Coates Biography (1925–)". Film Reference.
  3. ^ a b c d Murch, Walter (2000). "Walter Murch interviews Anne V. Coates", webpage originally posted at the editorsnet.com website; webpage archived at WebCite on 2008-07-07 from this original URL.
  4. ^ Sleeman, Elizabeth, ed. (2002). The International Who's Who of Women 2002 (3rd ed.). London: Europa Publications. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-857-43122-3. OCLC 925772556.
  5. ^ Erickson, Hal (undated). "Anne V. Coates"[permanent dead link‍], webpage from Allrovi Guide; online version retrieved 7 July 2008.
  6. ^ a b Barnes, Mike. "Anne V. Coates, Oscar-Winning Film Editor on 'Lawrence of Arabia,' Dies at 92". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  7. ^ Eileen Kowalski Profile, Variety, 14 November 2001. (subscription required)
  8. ^ a b Whitaker, Sheila (9 May 2018). "Anne V Coates obituary". The Guardian.
  9. ^ Dagan, Carmel (19 May 2018). "Anne V. Coates, Oscar-Winning Film Editor for 'Lawrence of Arabia,' Dies at 92". Variety.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h "Anne V. Coates ACE". United Agents. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be "Filmography for Anne V. Coates". Turner Classic Movies.
  12. ^ British Independent Film Awards – (BIFA) Archived 8 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "BAFTA crowns 'Queen' best film" 11 February 2007 – Variety (subscription)
  14. ^ "Honorary Oscar for British trailblazer editor Anne V Coates". BBC News. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  15. ^ "Jackie Chan, Anne V. Coates, Lynn Stalmaster and Frederick Wiseman to Receive Academy's 2016 Governors Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  16. ^ a b Coates, Anne V. (2007). "Things I've Learned As A Moviemaker" Archived 14 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine, article posted on 3 February 2007 at MovieMaker website retrieved 7 July 2008.
  17. ^ Kilday, Gregg (1 September 2016). "Jackie Chan, Film Editor Anne V. Coates to Get Honorary Oscars". The Hollywood Reporter.
  18. ^ "BAFTA Awards Search". Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  19. ^ "1998 Awards (Second Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  20. ^ "The 75 Best Edited Films". Editors Guild Magazine. 1 (3). May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015.
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