Anne V. Coates
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"In some ways people know too much about how movies are made today. You know, they see everthing behind the scenes. I didn't even know what a piece of film looked like when I went into the cutting room for the first time."---Anne Coates quoted to Los Angeles Magazine, November 2004.
Biography
A trailblazer for women in Hollywood's technical fields, Oscar winner Anne V. Coates edited more than 50 films in a 60-year career including "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "The Elephant Man" (1980) and "Out of Sight" (1998). Born in Reigate, England in 1925, Coates initially dreamed of becoming a race-horse trainer before William Wyler's "Wuthering Heights" (1939) inspired her to pursue a career in film. Following a brief nursing stint treating WWII victims at ground-breaking plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe's hospital, Coates persuaded her initially reluctant uncle, and founder of the Rank film company, J. Arthur Rank, to help secure her a job fixing prints of religious shorts at Elstree Studios. Although her uncle hoped the position would deter her from filmmaking ambitions, it only encouraged her further. Coates then moved to Pinewood Studios where she served as a second assistant film editor to Michael Powell on "The End of the River" (1947) and "The Red Shoes" (1948) and received her first credit on "The Pickwick Papers" (1952). Coates went on to work on the likes of "Grand National Night" (1953), "To Paris with Love" (1955) and "Tunes of Glory" (1960), but her major breakthrough arrived when she was chosen to work with David Lean on the historical epic, "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962). Coates had to trim down an astonishing 31 miles of footage during the arduous editing process, but was rewarded for her efforts with a Best Film Editing Oscar. After picking up another Academy Award nod for her work on "Becket" (1964), Coates added the likes of "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) and "The Eagle Has Landed" (1976) to her filmography, and also served as producer on supernatural thriller "The Medusa Touch" (1978). Coates added to her tally of Oscar nominations with "The Elephant Man" (1980), "In the Line of Fire" (1992) and "Out of Sight" (1998), worked on several other awards favorites including "Chaplin" (1992), "Erin Brockovich" (2000) and "Unfaithful" (2002), and eventually moved into digital editing with sci-fi adaptation "Congo" (1995). Coates was awarded an OBE for her services to the film industry in 2003, later received lifetime accolades at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and continued to work well into her eighties on films such as "The Golden Compass" (2007), "Extraordinary Measures" (2010) and "Fifty Shades of Grey" (2015). She passed away at Los Angeles' Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in 2018, aged 92, leaving behind sons Anthony and James and daughter Emma, all three of whom also enjoyed careers as film directors or editors.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Life Events
1952
Received first editing credit on "The Pickwick Papers"
1960
Edited "Tunes of Glory"
1962
Received Best Film Editing Academy Award for work on "Lawence of Arabia", directed by David Lean
1964
Received Oscar nomination for editing of "Becket", helmed by Peter Glenville
1966
Reteamed with Glenville for "Hotel Paradiso"
1968
Initial collaboration with director Jack Gold, "The Bofors Gun"
1970
First American production, "The Adventurers"
1974
Edited "Murder on the Orient Express"
1975
Reteamed with Gold on "Man Friday"
1978
Producer and editorial supervisor, "The Medusa Touch"; last feature collaboration with Jack Gold
1980
Received third Best Film Editing Academy Award for "The Elephant Man"
1982
Cut the musical film "The Pirates of Penzance"
1984
Was editor on "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes"
1990
Cut Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy "I Love You to Death"
1992
Served as editor on Richard Attenborough's biopic "Chaplin"
1993
Earned fourth Oscar nomination for her editing of the drama "In the Line of Fire"
1995
Served as editor on the jungle adventure "Congo"
1998
Garnered fifth Academy Award nomination for her superb editing of "Out of Sight", directed by Steven Soderbergh
2000
Reunited with Soderbergh to cut "Erin Brockovich"
2001
Edited the romantic drama "Sweet November"
2002
Cut the Adrian Lyne-helmed thriller "Unfaithful"
2004
Edited the crime drama "Taking Lives"
2006
Was editor on the drama "Catch and Release"
2007
Edited the fantasy adaptation "The Golden Compass"
2010
Edited family drama "Extraordinary Measures"
2015
Cut her final film, "Fifty Shades of Grey"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"In some ways people know too much about how movies are made today. You know, they see everthing behind the scenes. I didn't even know what a piece of film looked like when I went into the cutting room for the first time."---Anne Coates quoted to Los Angeles Magazine, November 2004.
