Tom Priestley

Thomas Holland Priestley (22 April 1932 – 25 December 2023) was a British film and sound editor, whose career spanned from 1961 to 1990.

Personal life and death Priestley was the only son of the novelist and playwright J. B. Priestley. He was educated at Bryanston School and King's College, Cambridge, where he read Classics and English.

He died on 25 December 2023, at the age of 91.

Career Upon leaving Cambridge, Priestley found employment at Shepperton Studios and worked in various roles including assistant sound editor. His break came when he worked as assistant editor on the now classic films Whistle Down the Wind and This Sporting Life. He worked on many prize-winning films and with a multitude of leading directors and producers. These included Karel Reisz, Lindsay Anderson, John Boorman, Roman Polanski, Jack Clayton, James Scott and Blake Edwards. He won a BAFTA in 1967 for his work on Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment and was Academy Award-nominated in 1972 for Deliverance. When production of Roman Polanski's Tess (1979) became problematic, he was brought in to assist Alastair McIntyre and get the film completed. Priestley edited the 1982 film A Shocking Accident, directed by James Scott, which won the Oscar in 1983 for Best Live Action Short.

From 1990, Priestley spent his time more lecturing on film editing and handling the estate of his father.

Filmography Film editing Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) Marat/Sade (1966) Isadora (1968) Leo the Last (1970) Deliverance (1972) The Great Gatsby (1974) The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) Voyage of the Damned (1976) Jubilee (1977) Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) Tess (1979) A Shocking Accident (1982) Another Time, Another Place (1983) 1984 (1984) Nanou (1986) White Mischief (1987)

Sound editing Nowhere to Go (1958) Dunkirk (1958) Left Right and Centre (1959) The Scapegoat (1959) This Other Eden (1959) The Angry Silence (1960) Repulsion (1965) Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) The Skull (1965)