# Jim Clark (film editor)

Jim Clark (24 May 1931 – 25 February 2016) was a British film editor and film director. He has more than forty feature film credits between 1956 and 2008. Clark directed four feature films along with a handful of short films. Notably, he served as a creative consultant for Midnight Cowboy (1969). His most noted editing credits included Marathon Man (1976), The Killing Fields (1984), and Vera Drake (2004). In 2011, Clark published Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing, a memoir of his career.

## Early life

Clark was born in 1931, and grew up in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire and founded the Oundle Film Society in 1947.

## Career

Clark moved to London, and in 1951 began work as an assistant editor at Ealing Studios. Subsequently he worked as a freelance assistant editor on two films directed by Stanley Donen and edited by Jack Harris. When Harris declined the opportunity to work on Donen's subsequent film, Surprise Package (1960), Donen gave Clark the job. As Clark later wrote,
   It was a fairly bad movie and probably would have finished my career before it had started, but luckily Stanley got another film, The Grass Is Greener (1960), which he also asked me to edit. The cutting of the two films overlapped, which was great training for me. Soon after, I was asked to cut The Innocents (1961) starring Deborah Kerr, which has since become a classic story-driven, supernatural horror film. It was very hard to cut, but that film really put me on the map.
He received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for the editing of The Killing Fields (1984, directed by Roland Joffé); he received a second BAFTA Award for editing The Mission (1986, Joffé). Clark was also nominated for BAFTA Awards for his editing of the films Marathon Man (1976, directed by John Schlesinger) and Vera Drake (2004, directed by Mike Leigh). In 2005, Clark received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award.
Responding to a question about the major influences on his editing, Clark said
   Looking back over many years, the American cinema of the 40s was very important to me, along with Hitchcock films and early British comedies with actors like Will Hay and George Formby. Music has also played a major role; it influences the rhythm of my editing. The pacing of a film and its dialogue have a lot to do with music, and the act of going from one shot to another has always fascinated me - when and how you do it, the reason for an edit.
As a director he was responsible for The Christmas Tree (1966), Every Home Should Have One (1970), Rentadick (1972) and Madhouse (1974).

## Personal life and memoir

Clark lived in Kensington with his wife Laurence Méry-Clark, likewise a film and television editor. They married in 1961 and had three children. Clark's autobiography Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing was published in 2011, receiving warm reviews from The Guardian and The Observer.

## Filmography

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director | Notes | Other notes |
| 1956 | One Wish Too Many | John Durst | | |
| 1960 | Surprise Package | Stanley Donen | First collaboration with Stanley Donen | |
| 1960 | The Grass Is Greener | Stanley Donen | Second collaboration with Stanley Donen | |
| 1961 | The Innocents | Jack Clayton | First collaboration with Jack Clayton | |
| 1962 | Term of Trial | Peter Glenville | | |
| 1963 | Charade | Stanley Donen | Third collaboration with Stanley Donen | |
| 1964 | The Pumpkin Eater | Jack Clayton | Second collaboration with Jack Clayton | |
| 1965 | Darling | John Schlesinger | First collaboration with John Schlesinger | |
| 1967 | Far from the Madding Crowd | John Schlesinger | Second collaboration with John Schlesinger | Uncredited |
| 1972 | X Y & Zee | Brian G. Hutton | | |
| 1975 | The Day of the Locust | John Schlesinger | Fourth collaboration with John Schlesinger | |
| 1975 | The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother | Gene Wilder | | |
| 1976 | Marathon Man | John Schlesinger | Fifth collaboration with John Schlesinger | |
| 1977 | The Last Remake of Beau Geste | Marty Feldman | | |
| 1979 | Agatha | Michael Apted | First collaboration with Michael Apted | |
| 1979 | Yanks | John Schlesinger | Sixth collaboration with John Schlesinger | |
| 1981 | Honky Tonk Freeway | John Schlesinger | Seventh collaboration with John Schlesinger | |
| 1983 | Privates on Parade | Michael Blakemore | | |
| 1984 | The Killing Fields | Roland Joffé | First collaboration with Roland Joffé | |
| 1985 | The Frog Prince | Brian Gilbert | | |
| 1986 | The Mission | Roland Joffé | Second collaboration with Roland Joffé | |
| 1988 | Young Toscanini | Franco Zeffirelli | | |
| 1990 | Spies Inc. | Antony Thomas | | |
| 1990 | Memphis Belle | Michael Caton-Jones | First collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 1991 | Meeting Venus | István Szabó | | |
| 1993 | This Boy's Life | Michael Caton-Jones | Second collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 1994 | A Good Man in Africa | Bruce Beresford | | |
| 1994 | Radio Inside | Jeffrey Bell | | |
| 1994 | Nell | Michael Apted | Second collaboration with Michael Apted | |
| 1995 | Copycat | Jon Amiel | | |
| 1996 | Marvin's Room | Jerry Zaks | | |
| 1997 | The Jackal | Michael Caton-Jones | Third collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 1999 | The Trench | William Boyd | | |
| 1999 | Onegin | Martha Fiennes | | |
| 1999 | The World Is Not Enough | Michael Apted | Third collaboration with Michael Apted | |
| 2001 | Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang) | Stewart Sugg | | |
| 2002 | City by the Sea | Michael Caton-Jones | Fourth collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 2004 | Vera Drake | Mike Leigh | First collaboration with Mike Leigh | |
| 2006 | Opal Dream | Peter Cattaneo | | |
| 2007 | Virgin Territory | David Leland | | |
| 2008 | Happy-Go-Lucky | Mike Leigh | Second collaboration with Mike Leigh | |
Editorial department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | The Love Lottery | Charles Crichton | Second assistant editor | Uncredited |
| 1955 | The Ladykillers | Alexander Mackendrick | Second assistant editor | Uncredited |
| 1994 | War of the Buttons | John Roberts | Consulting editor | |
Actor :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes | Other notes |
| 1987 | The Fuma Conspiracy | Masayuki Ōzeki | Squad Leader | English version, voice role | |
| 1997 | Robinson Crusoe | Rod HardyGeorge T. Miller | Slave Ship Captain | Voice role | Uncredited |
| 1997 | The Jackal | Michael Caton-Jones | Narrator on TV | Voice role | Uncredited |
Additional crew :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | John Schlesinger | Creative consultant | Third collaboration with John Schlesinger |
Director :
| Year | Film |
| 1966 | The Christmas Tree |
| 1970 | Every Home Should Have One |
| 1972 | Rentadick |
| 1974 | Madhouse |
Second unit or assistant director :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 1981 | Honky Tonk Freeway | John Schlesinger | Second unit director |
Sound department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1953 | The Cruel Sea | Charles Frend | Assistant sound editor | Uncredited |
Thanks :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 1995 | Palookaville | Alan Taylor | Thanks |
| 1998 | Twilight | Robert Benton | Special thanks |

### Documentaries

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1963 | An Evening with the Royal Ballet | Anthony Havelock-AllanAnthony Asquith |
| 1967 | Faces of Architecture | Hugh Grieves |
| 1973 | Visions of Eight | Miloš FormanClaude LelouchYuri OzerovMai ZetterlingKon IchikawaJohn SchlesingerArthur PennMichael Pfleghar |

### Shorts

Director :
| Year | Film |
| 1966 | Senghenydd: Portrait of a Mining Town |
| 1966 | Soldier '67 |
| 1967 | Speaking of Britain |
| 1970 | Day of Rest |
Producer :
| Year | Film | Director | Credit |
| 1966 | Senghenydd: Portrait of a Mining Town | Himself | Producer |

### TV movies

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2002 | The Gathering Storm | Richard Loncraine |

### TV series

Actor :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Other notes |
| 1989 | Crusher Joe The OVAs | Gabbuuru | English version, voice role | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | You're Under Arrest | — | English version, voice role | 1 episode |
| 1996−2008 | You're Under Arrest | Additional Voices | English version, voice role | 101 episodes |
| 2014 | The Haunted Hathaways | Moppy | Voice role | 1 episode |
Director :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1975 | Gosling's Travels | 1 episode |
Second unit or assistant director :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1969 | Playboy After Dark | Associate director | 1 episode |

### TV specials

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2022 | Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts | Casey PattersonJoe PearlmanGiorgio TestiEran Creevy |