Joel Cox (born April 2, 1942) is an American

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

. He is best known for collaborating with

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

in 33 films.

Life and career

Cox has been working in film since appearing as a baby in '' Random Harvest'' (1942). He started in the mailroom at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in 1961. Rudi Fehr, a well-known editor and executive at Warner Bros., made Cox an apprentice editor about 3 years later. As was common in the era, Cox worked as an uncredited assistant for several years. His first credit as an assistant editor was for '' The Rain People'', which was directed by

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...

and edited by Barry Malkin. Not available online. His first credit as the editor was for '' Farewell, My Lovely'' (1975), which was directed by Dick Richards and co-edited by the veteran editor Walter A. Thompson. Cox had just finished working as Thompson's assistant on '' Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins'' (1975), which was also directed by Richards. Cox worked on two more of Richards' films, '' March or Die'' (1977 - as assistant editor) and ''

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

'' (1982). Cox has had a notable collaboration with

that commenced with the 1976 film '' The Outlaw Josey Wales'', for which Cox was Ferris Webster's assistant. Cox and Webster were co-editors on '' The Gauntlet'' (1977) and on several more of Eastwood's subsequent films. Starting with '' Sudden Impact'' (1983), Cox became Eastwood's principal editor. Cox has been quoted as saying that, over their 30-year partnership, Eastwood has re-cut only a single scene that Cox put together. Gary D. Roach, who worked as Cox's assistant from the mid-1990s, became Cox's co-editor on Eastwood's films with '' Letters from Iwo Jima'' (2006). Cox's long streak editing each of Eastwood's films ended with '' Sully'', which was edited by another of his former assistants, Blu Murray. In addition to his career in the film industry, since 2000 Cox and his family have owned and managed a vineyard and winery near Paso Robles, California. Cox won the 1992

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Film Editing for ''

Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by David Webb Peoples. It stars Eastwood as William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after ...

''. He has been elected as a member of the

American Cinema Editors Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editing, film editors who are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the ...

. On November 25, 2008,

presented Cox the first Ignacy Paderewski Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named in honor of the piano virtuoso who called Paso Robles home, at the first Paso Robles Digital Film Festival. He received a nomination for the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Editing for ''Changeling'' and for the 2015

for Best Film Editing for ''

American Sniper ''American Sniper'' is a 2014 American Biographical film, biographical War film, war drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive-produced by Jason Hall (screenwriter), Jason Hall, based on the memoir American ...

''.

Filmography

The 2008 Paso Robles Digital Film Festival provides a full filmography of Joel Cox as part of his Lifetime Achievement Award.

Editor

Assistant editor

Sound department

Self

Awards

References

External links

* * at

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Joel 1942 births Living people American Cinema Editors American film editors American people in the wine industry Best Film Editing Academy Award winners Film people from Los Angeles