Richard Best

Richard Best (28 June 1916 – 19 December 2004) was a British film editor and television editor. He had about 50 feature film credits, and also edited the 1965-66 season of the television series The Avengers. He is known particularly for three films: The Dam Busters, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), and Look Back in Anger (1959), as well as for his long collaboration with director J. Lee Thompson.

Selected filmography Feature films Fame is the Spur (Boulting-1947) The Guinea Pig (Boulting-1948) The Dancing Years (French-1950). The first of thirty-three films from Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) that Best edited. Kevin Brownlow considers it to be the epitome of Best's work, "The Dam Busters was exceptionally well cut. ... Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is supposed to be the first film to use direct cuts between sequences, and to dispense with fades and dissolves, but The Dam Busters experimented with this a decade earlier. ... the climax, a tremendous juggling job, was largely invented by him. Despite some unconvincing special effects, the bombing runs were impeccably timed and one still watches the sequence with astonishment." Sands of the Desert (Carstairs-1960) The Rebel (Day-1961). Also released in the U.S. as Call Me Genius. Go to Blazes (Truman-1962) The Cracksman (Scott-1963) The Bargee (Wood-1964) Otley (Clement-1968) The Most Dangerous Man in the World (Thompson-1969). Released in the U.S. as The Chairman. The Blood on Satan's Claw (Haggard-1970) Please Sir! (Stuart-1971) Dominique (Anderson-1978)

Documentaries and shorts From 1977 to 1982, Best edited documentary and short films produced by British Transport Films (BTF). Robbie (Dunkley-1979) Promises, Promises (Tambling-1982).