Acclaimed film editor Robert C. Jones, who worked on classic films that released during the ’60s and ’70s including Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Love Story, has passed away at the age of 84. During his career, he also earned an Academy Award for helping to write the 1978 war film, Coming Home.
The news was confirmed to Variety on February 1 by his daughter, Leslie Jones, who received an Oscar nomination for her work as film editor on the 1998 war drama, The Thin Red Line. She also confirmed that Jones indeed had been suffering from a long term illness.
“My Dad had a tremendous impact on my own editing career with whom I worked on several films as his assistant,” said Leslie. “Like Bob I did not go to film school and had no formal training in editing. But what I learned was that editing does not always require a specific skill set. He taught me that talent instead is guided by a sense of compassion, and integrity, and the search for truth and authenticity. He had all that and more.”
Following his retirement in 2001, Jones spent the next 15 years as a professor a the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the American Cinema Editors in 2014.
“In addition to teaching students to edit he supported, and even helped boost, their passion for filmmaking and storytelling in general. Bob was known for being patient and kind, and for a great sense of humor,” reads a tribute to Jones from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. “He engaged students in the School’s hallways, joking with them and literally being a source of joy. He wasn’t just a mentor to students, but also his colleagues on the faculty, and members of the staff. Without a doubt he was one of the School’s most loved professors.”
He’s survived by his wife Sylvia, his daughters Leslie and Hayley Sussman, his sister Polly, and his grandchildren Sophia, Henry, Sammy and Phoebe.
Leave a Comment