# Dorothy Spencer

Dorothy Spencer (February 3, 1909 – May 23, 2002), known as Dot Spencer, was an American film editor with 75 feature film credits from a career that spanned more than 50 years. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing on four occasions, she is remembered for editing three of director John Ford's best known movies, including Stagecoach (1939) and My Darling Clementine (1946), which film critic Roger Ebert called "Ford's greatest Western".

## Career

Spencer was born in Covington, Kentucky in 1909. She entered the film industry at age 15 when she joined Consolidated-Aller Lab in 1924. She moved to Fox, becoming a member of the editorial department. Worked at First National Studios assisting editors including Louis Loeffler and Irene Morra. At Fox, she and Loeffler were part of an editorial team that also included, at one time or another, Barbara McLean, Robert Simpson, William Reynolds and Hugh S. Fowler.
In the 1940s, Spencer edited Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Lifeboat (1944); the latter featured a particularly feisty and well-edited Tallulah Bankhead performance. Spencer edited four films with director Ernst Lubitsch, commencing with To Be or Not to Be (1942), and now considered "one of film's great farces", and concluding with Lubitsch's last, posthumous credit That Lady in Ermine (1948). Spencer also edited director Elia Kazan's feature film debut, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945).
Spencer edited the disaster film Earthquake (1974), which was the last of her eight collaborations with director Mark Robson.
Variety's Eileen Kowalski notes that, "Indeed, many of the editorial greats have been women: Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker, Anne V. Coates and Dorothy Spencer." Spencer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Earthquake, which was her fourth and final nomination. It followed her nomination for what still reigns as the most expensive movie ever made, Cleopatra (1963).
Spencer had previously been nominated for Decision Before Dawn (directed by Anatole Litvak, 1951) and, with Otho Lovering, for Stagecoach (directed by John Ford, 1939). Spencer was awarded the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award in 1989, and was among the first four editors to receive the Award.
She retired to Encinitas, California. She had disconnected from Hollywood so much that her death, decades later, was not noted in the press of the time.

## Partial filmography

This filmography is based on the listing at the Internet Movie Database.
Editor :
| Year | Film | Director | Notes | Other notes |
| 1929 | Married in Hollywood | Marcel Silver | | |
| 1929 | Nix on Dames | Donald Gallaher | | |
| 1931 | Mamá | Benito Perojo | | |
| 1934 | Coming Out Party | John G. Blystone | | Uncredited |
| 1934 | Such Women Are Dangerous | James Flood | | Uncredited |
| 1934 | She Was a Lady | Hamilton MacFadden | Second collaboration with Hamilton MacFadden | |
| 1935 | Lottery Lover | Wilhelm Thiele | | |
| 1936 | The Moon's Our Home | William A. Seiter | First collaboration with William A. Seiter | |
| 1936 | The Case Against Mrs. Ames | William A. Seiter | Second collaboration with William A. Seiter | |
| 1936 | The Luckiest Girl in the World | Edward Buzzell | | |
| 1937 | Vogues of 1938 | Irving Cummings | Second collaboration with Irving Cummings | |
| 1937 | Stand-In | Tay Garnett | First collaboration with Tay Garnett | |
| 1938 | Blockade | William Dieterle | | |
| 1938 | Trade Winds | Tay Garnett | Second collaboration with Tay Garnett | |
| 1939 | Stagecoach | John Ford | First collaboration with John Ford | |
| 1939 | Winter Carnival | Charles Reisner | | |
| 1939 | Eternally Yours | Tay Garnett | Third collaboration with Tay Garnett | |
| 1939 | Slightly Honorable | Tay Garnett | Fourth collaboration with Tay Garnett | |
| 1940 | The House Across the Bay | Archie Mayo | First collaboration with Archie Mayo | |
| 1940 | Foreign Correspondent | Alfred Hitchcock | First collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 1941 | Sundown | Henry Hathaway | First collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1941 | The Captain from Köpenick | Richard Oswald | | |
| 1942 | To Be or Not to Be | Ernst Lubitsch | First collaboration with Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1943 | Heaven Can Wait | Ernst Lubitsch | Second collaboration with Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1943 | Happy Land | Irving Pichel | | |
| 1944 | Lifeboat | Alfred Hitchcock | Second collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 1944 | Sweet and Low-Down | Archie Mayo | Second collaboration with Archie Mayo | |
| 1945 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Elia Kazan | First collaboration with Elia Kazan | |
| 1945 | A Royal Scandal | Otto Preminger | | |
| 1946 | Dragonwyck | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | First collaboration with Joseph L. Mankiewicz | |
| 1946 | Cluny Brown | Ernst Lubitsch | Third collaboration with Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1946 | My Darling Clementine | John Ford | Second collaboration with John Ford | |
| 1947 | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Second collaboration with Joseph L. Mankiewicz | |
| 1948 | That Lady in Ermine | Ernst Lubitsch | Fourth collaboration with Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1948 | The Snake Pit | Anatole Litvak | First collaboration with Anatole Litvak | |
| 1949 | Down to the Sea in Ships | Henry Hathaway | Second collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1950 | Three Came Home | Jean Negulesco | First collaboration with Jean Negulesco | |
| 1950 | Under My Skin | Jean Negulesco | Second collaboration with Jean Negulesco | |
| 1951 | Fourteen Hours | Henry Hathaway | Third collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1951 | Decision Before Dawn | Anatole Litvak | Second collaboration with Anatole Litvak | |
| 1952 | Lydia Bailey | Jean Negulesco | Third collaboration with Jean Negulesco | |
| 1952 | What Price Glory | John Ford | Third collaboration with John Ford | |
| 1953 | Tonight We Sing | Mitchell Leisen | | |
| 1953 | Man on a Tightrope | Elia Kazan | Second collaboration with Elia Kazan | |
| 1953 | Vicki | Harry Horner | | |
| 1954 | Night People | Nunnally Johnson | First collaboration with Nunnally Johnson | |
| 1954 | Demetrius and the Gladiators | Delmer Daves | | |
| 1954 | Broken Lance | Edward Dmytryk | First collaboration with Edward Dmytryk | |
| 1954 | Black Widow | Nunnally Johnson | Second collaboration with Nunnally Johnson | |
| 1955 | Prince of Players | Philip Dunne | First collaboration with Philip Dunne | |
| 1955 | Soldier of Fortune | Edward Dmytryk | Second collaboration with Edward Dmytryk | |
| 1955 | The Left Hand of God | Edward Dmytryk | Third collaboration with Edward Dmytryk | |
| 1955 | The Rains of Ranchipur | Jean Negulesco | Fourth collaboration with Jean Negulesco | |
| 1956 | The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | Nunnally Johnson | Third collaboration with Nunnally Johnson | |
| 1956 | The Best Things in Life Are Free | Michael Curtiz | | |
| 1957 | A Hatful of Rain | Fred Zinnemann | | |
| 1958 | The Young Lions | Edward Dmytryk | Fourth collaboration with Edward Dmytryk | |
| 1959 | The Journey | Anatole Litvak | Third collaboration with Anatole Litvak | |
| 1959 | A Private's Affair | Raoul Walsh | Second collaboration with Raoul Walsh | |
| 1960 | Seven Thieves | Henry Hathaway | Fourth collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1960 | From the Terrace | Mark Robson | First collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1960 | North to Alaska | Henry Hathaway | Fifth collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1961 | Wild in the Country | Philip Dunne | Second collaboration with Philip Dunne | |
| 1963 | Cleopatra | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Third collaboration with Joseph L. Mankiewicz | |
| 1964 | Circus World | Henry Hathaway | Sixth collaboration with Henry Hathaway | |
| 1965 | Von Ryan's Express | Mark Robson | Second collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1966 | Lost Command | Mark Robson | Third collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1967 | A Guide for the Married Man | Gene Kelly | | |
| 1967 | Valley of the Dolls | Mark Robson | Fourth collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1969 | Daddy's Gone A-Hunting | Mark Robson | Fifth collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1971 | Happy Birthday, Wanda June | Mark Robson | Sixth collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1972 | Limbo | Mark Robson | Seventh collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1974 | Earthquake | Mark Robson | Eighth collaboration with Mark Robson | |
| 1979 | The Concorde... Airport '79 | David Lowell Rich | | |
Editorial department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1926 | The Strong Man | Frank Capra | Assistant editor | First collaboration with Frank Capra |
| 1927 | Long Pants | Frank Capra | Assistant editor | Second collaboration with Frank Capra |
| 1928 | In Old Arizona | Irving CummingsRaoul Walsh | Assistant editor | First collaboration with Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh |
| 1929 | Four Married Men | Marcel Silver | Assistant editor | |
| 1934 | As Husbands Go | Hamilton MacFadden | Assistant editor | First collaboration with Hamilton MacFadden |
Actress :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 1967 | Pilyo Sa Girls | José 'Pepe' Wenceslao | — |

### Documentaries

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1945 | Here Is Germany | Frank Capra |

### TV series

Actress :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1955 | Cameo Theatre | — | 1 episode |

## Awards

Awards :
| Year | Film | Role |
| 1940 | Stagecoach | Nominated for an Academy Award |
| 1952 | Decision Before Dawn | Nominated for an Academy Award |
| 1964 | Cleopatra | Nominated for an Academy Award |
| 1975 | Earthquake | Nominated for an Academy Award |