Dorothy Spencer

Dorothy Spencer (February 3, 1909 – May 23, 2002), known as Dot Spencer, was an American film editor with 75 feature film credits from a career that spanned more than 50 years. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing on four occasions, Spencer is remembered for editing three of John Ford's best known films, including Stagecoach and My Darling Clementine (1946).

Career Dorothy Spencer was born in Covington, Kentucky in 1909 to Charles Spencer and Catherine . She was the youngest of four children, which included her older sister Jeanne. When she was a child, her family relocated to Los Angeles, where Jeanne evidently became a film editor. In 1924, at the age of 15, Dorothy joined Consolidated-Aller Lab as an uncredited assistant editor on several films directed by Raoul Walsh and The Strong Man (1926) and Long Pants (1927), both directed by Frank Capra. In 1929, she joined Twentieth Century-Fox as an editor. Her first credits were Married in Hollywood and Nix on Dames (both released in 1929). They received an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing.

1965–1979: Films with Mark Robson and retirement Spencer collaborated with Mark Robson on several of his films, including Von Ryan's Express (1965) and Valley of the Dolls (1967). Spencer then edited the disaster film Earthquake (1974), her eight collaboration with Robson. In an article for American Cinematographer magazine, Spencer wrote: "[Robson and I] have a very nice relationship and I like working with him. Although he is a top‑notch editor himself, he gives me free rein to exercise my own creative individuality in cutting a sequence the way I feel it should go."

Death She died on May 23, 2002, at the age of 93. Her death was not widely reported in the press of the time. Nix on Dames Donald Gallaher 1931 Mamá Benito Perojo

Coming Out Party John G. Blystone

Such Women Are Dangerous James Flood She Was a Lady Hamilton MacFadden 1935 Lottery Lover Wilhelm Thiele

The Moon's Our Home

The Case Against Mrs. Ames The Luckiest Girl in the World Edward Buzzell

Vogues of 1938 Irving Cummings Stand-In Tay Garnett

Blockade William Dieterle Trade Winds Tay Garnett

Stagecoach John Ford Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing Winter Carnival Charles Reisner Eternally Yours

Slightly Honorable

The House Across the Bay Archie Mayo Foreign Correspondent Alfred Hitchcock

Sundown Henry Hathaway The Captain from Köpenick Richard Oswald 1942 To Be or Not to Be

Heaven Can Wait Happy Land Irving Pichel

Lifeboat Alfred Hitchcock Sweet and Low-Down Archie Mayo

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Elia Kazan A Royal Scandal Otto Preminger Here Is Germany (Documentary) Frank Capra

Dragonwyck Joseph L. Mankiewicz Cluny Brown Ernst Lubitsch My Darling Clementine John Ford 1947 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Joseph L. Mankiewicz

That Lady in Ermine Ernst Lubitsch The Snake Pit Anatole Litvak 1949 Down to the Sea in Ships Henry Hathaway

Three Came Home

Under My Skin

Fourteen Hours Henry Hathaway Decision Before Dawn Anatole Litvak Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing

Lydia Bailey Jean Negulesco What Price Glory John Ford

Tonight We Sing Mitchell Leisen Man on a Tightrope Elia Kazan Vicki Harry Horner

Night People Nunnally Johnson Demetrius and the Gladiators Delmer Daves Broken Lance Edward Dmytryk Black Widow Nunnally Johnson

Prince of Players Philip Dunne Soldier of Fortune

The Left Hand of God The Rains of Ranchipur Jean Negulesco

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Nunnally Johnson The Best Things in Life Are Free Michael Curtiz 1957 A Hatful of Rain Fred Zinnemann 1958 The Young Lions Edward Dmytryk

The Journey Anatole Litvak A Private's Affair Raoul Walsh

Seven Thieves Henry Hathaway From the Terrace Mark Robson North to Alaska Henry Hathaway 1961 Wild in the Country Philip Dunne 1963 Cleopatra Joseph L. Mankiewicz Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing 1964 Circus World Henry Hathaway 1965 Von Ryan's Express

1966 Lost Command

A Guide for the Married Man Gene Kelly Valley of the Dolls

1969 Daddy's Gone A-Hunting 1971 Happy Birthday, Wanda June 1972 Limbo 1974 Earthquake Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing 1979 The Concorde... Airport '79 David Lowell Rich