Thelma Schoonmaker   [1940]

Thelma Schoonmaker is an American film editor who has been nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Film Editing, and out of the six, she won three Academy Awards. The three Academy Awards were for the Martin Scorcese directed films “Raging Bull”, in 1981, “The Aviator”, in 2005, and “The Departed”, in 2007.

The name Schoonmaker is clearly Dutch. It means cleaner or janitor, and with the second letter “o” changed to an “e”, it means cobbler or shoe maker. Thelma was born in Algeria to American expatriates, and grew up in several foreign countries, including the Dutch-Caribbean island of Aruba. During her college years the idea of making a career in the movie industry was apparently not on her radar. As a matter of fact, she did her college work at Cornell University and majored in political science with an eye on international diplomacy.

Following graduation from Cornell University Schoonmaker began to lose interest in working in foreign diplomacy, and became interested in primitive art. To support herself she began looking for work, and noticed an advertisement in the New York Times for an “assistant film editor”. She applied for the job and was hired. While an assistant film editor, she decided to take a six week course in film making at New York University, and came in contact with Martin Scorsese, who was then just a beginning film maker. She was asked to help Scorsese with one of his film editing problems, and from that point on her career in film editing was formed.

Schoonmaker’s film career started in the mid 1960’s and has continued on until the present time. She has edited numerous films, and is currently scheduled to edit a film with a 2013 launching date. During her entire film career, she has edited more than 15 films, but has received nearly 30 national and international awards for her work as a film editor.

The nearly 20 major film productions she has edited consist of: “Woodstock”, in 1970, “Raging Bull”, in 1980, “The King of Comedy”, in 1982, “After Hours”, in 1985, “Bad”, a Michael Jackson music video, in 1987, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, in 1988, “New York Series”, in 1989, “Goodfellas”, in 1990, “Cape Fear”, in 1999, “The Age of Innocence”, in 1993, “Casino”, in 1995, “Gangs of New York”, in 2002, “AFI Life Achievement Award” A Tribute to Robert De Niro”, a TV presentation, in 2003, “The Aviator”, in 2004,  “The Departed”, in 2006, ”Shutter Island”, in 2010, and “Hugo Cabaret”, in 2011.

The major awards she received during her film editing career, in addition to the Academy Awards, came from such organizations as the BAFTA Film Awards, the American Cinema Editors ACE Awards, the Online Film Critics Society Awards, and the Golden Satellite Awards.

Schoonmaker was married to director Michael Powell from May 19, 1984 until his death in 1990. Following Powell’s death, Schoonmaker has been active in preserving the films which were directed by Powell. Many of Powell’s films were classics.

In conclusion, we can consider Thelma Schoonmaker to be one of the great contributors to the art of film making. The work of an editor has not always received as much credit for the outcome of the film as the contributions by the actors, directors and producers. But in Schoonmaker’s case, the co-producers of the films, she has been involved in, have recognized her contributions and deservedly so.

 

REFERENCES

Encyclopedia: Thelma Schoonmaker, http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Thelma-Schoonmaker

Thelma Schoonmaker, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_Schoonmaker

 

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