Sad Good bye to Sally Menke

During this frantic Fashion Week, I was told of the sad death of one of my favorite film editors, Sally Menke. While working as an assistant film editor for over 12 years in Los Angeles, I really looked up to the few women editors that seemed to fuse their creativity with the perfect director. I had the chance to work with Claire Simpson on SABRINA with Sydney Pollack over at Paramount. Claire had won an Oscar for her work as editor on PLATOON. I was the only female on a editing crew made up of brothers with the patriarch as the head editor, Fritz Steinkemp. Let's just say that it was challenging. When Claire came on board, I was relieved to have a female collaborator. I also worked with Dede Allen on Abel Ferarra's BODY SNATCHERS. Dede started as a East coast editor who started with Robert Wise and edited such 1970's masterpieces like BONNIE AND CLYDE and NEEDLE IN THE PARK. She used to tell me,' You gotta make the film dance, Liza. Make it dance' Sadly, Dede Allen left us this past June. The other editor I idolized was Sally Menke who edited all of Quentin Tarantino's films from RESERVOIR DOGS to the brilliant, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS. I always thought anyone who could close themselves in a dark editing room for months with Quentin Tarantino must have superwoman powers. It is too sad to think what happened to Sally while hiking in record high heat on such an arid terrain near the Hollywood sign. RIP, Sally. We will all miss you......and your brilliant editing....