Peter Zinner | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1919-07-24)July 24, 1919 |
| Died | November 13, 2007(2007-11-13) (aged 88) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Film editor |
| Years active | 1962–2006 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Peter Zinner (July 24, 1919 – November 13, 2007) was an Austrian-American film editor. Following nearly fifteen years of uncredited work as an assistant sound editor, Zinner received credits on more than fifty films from 1959 to 2006.[1] His most influential films are likelyThe Godfather andThe Godfather Part II, both of which appear on a 2012 listing of the 75 best edited films of all time compiled by theMotion Picture Editors Guild.[2]
He was born inVienna, Austria, and studied music there in theTheresianum[3][4] and at theMax Reinhardt Seminar. Following theoccupation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, Zinner and his parents, who were Jewish, emigrated. They went first to thePhilippines, and in 1940 to the United States. As a young man, Zinner worked in Los Angeles as a taxi driver and occasionally as a pianist at screenings of silent films.[5]
In 1943, Zinner became an apprentice film editor at the20th Century Fox Studios. He became an assistant sound-effects editor atUniversal Studios in 1947. Much of his work as an assistant sound and music editor is uncredited; he worked with composersMiklós Rózsa,Jacques Ibert,André Previn,Adolph Deutsch, andBernard Herrmann on films includingQuo Vadis (1951),Singin' in the Rain (1952),The Band Wagon (1953),Gigi (1958), and Gene Kelly's experimentalInvitation to the Dance (1956).[5] His first credit as a music editor was forFor the First Time (1959); his other credits for music includeX-15 (1961), the US version ofKing Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), andLord Jim (1965).
Zinner had wanted to move into film editing, and following his music-editing work with producer-directorRichard Brooks onLord Jim, Brooks asked him to editThe Professionals (1967) andIn Cold Blood (1967). Zinner's work onThe Professionals was nominated for anAmerican Cinema Editors Eddie Award. By 1970 he had become sufficiently established as an editor that he was asked to edit the latter half ofThe Godfather;William H. Reynolds edited the first half. The film, which was directed byFrancis Ford Coppola, has been very successful with critics and at the box office. One of its sequences has become an icon of film editing. As criticTony Sloman described it in 2007, "As the newly born child ofMichael Corleone is christened, the young Don Michael, heir to the murdered DonVito Corleone, wreaks his revenge on his enemies, eliminating them to the soundtrack of the priest's baby-blessing and the church's organ music. It is unquestionably one of the most dramatically satisfying and audience-shattering sequences in contemporary cinema, a magnificent example of the art of motion-picture editing, the craft of story-telling by montage. The editor of the sequence was Peter Zinner."[5] DirectorFrank Pierson said, "...That's the kind of thing that he was brilliant at, and it's become a classic sequence in movie history."[6]
Zinner was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Film Editing three times, for his work onThe Godfather (1972),The Deer Hunter (1978; directed byMichael Cimino), andAn Officer and a Gentleman {1982; directed byTaylor Hackford}. He won the Oscar, aBAFTA, and an Eddie forThe Deer Hunter. His work (withBarry Malkin andRichard Marks) onThe Godfather Part II (1974) earned a second BAFTA nomination. Zinner was nominated four times for Emmy Awards, and won for the miniseriesWar and Remembrance (1988) and forCitizen Cohn (1992). His peers in theAmerican Cinema Editors honored him with six Eddie nominations of which he won four.
His many other film editing credits includeBlake Edwards'Gunn,Foolin' Around,Darling Lili,Dirty Pictures,Crazy Joe,Mahogany,A Star is Born (withBarbra Streisand) andSomebody Has to Shoot the Picture.
In 1990 he played the role of an admiral in the filmThe Hunt for Red October. Zinner also produced four films. He directedThe Salamander (1981) withAnthony Quinn.
Zinner had married his wife Christa, a German-born photographer and artist, in 1959. Their daughter, Katina Zinner, is also a film editor as well as an artist. Zinner died on November 13, 2007, aged 88, inSanta Monica, California, fromnon-Hodgkin lymphoma. His funeral was held on January 5, 2008.[7][8]
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Feature Film | The Professionals | Nominated |
| 1972 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Feature Film | The Godfather | Nominated |
| 1973 | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Best Film Editing | Nominated | |
| 1974 | British Academy of Film and Television Arts | Best Editing | The Godfather Part II | Nominated |
| 1978 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Feature Film | The Deer Hunter | Won |
| 1979 | British Academy of Film and Television Arts | Best Editing | Won | |
| Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Best Film Editing | Won | ||
| 1983 | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Best Film Editing | An Officer and a Gentleman | Nominated |
| 1984 | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | War and Remembrance | Won |
| 1989 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Television Mini-Series | Won | |
| 1990 | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | Won | |
| 1992 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Television Special | Citizen Cohn | Won |
| 1993 | CableACE Awards | Best Editing in a Dramatic Special | Nominated | |
| Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | Won | ||
| 2000 | American Cinema Editors | Best Edited Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television | Dirty Pictures | Won |
| 2002 | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Television Movie | Conspiracy | Nominated |
| Academy of Television Arts & Sciences | Outstanding Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | Nominated |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
