Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Walla Walla, Washington, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 64

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ferris Webster (April 29, 1912 – February 4, 1989) was an American film editor with approximately seventy-two film credits. He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Film Editing for his work on Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and The Great Escape (1963). Webster was raised in the state of Washington, and was a student at the University of Southern California, where he was an outstanding track and field athlete. He was trained as an editor at the MGM Studios, and received his first feature-film credit in 1943 for Harrigan's Kid. At MGM, Webster edited six films with director Vincente Minnelli: Undercurrent (1946), Madame Bovary (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Father's Little Dividend (1951), The Long, Long Trailer (1954), and Tea and Sympathy (1956). Film critic Bruce Eder has written of Madame Bovay that, "the cutting of the film in the gala ball sequence, in particular, was a marvel of the editor's art in the service of old Hollywood's restrained, elegant storytelling." In the mid-1950s, he edited three films with director Richard Brooks: Blackboard Jungle (1955), Something of Value (1957), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); Webster received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Blackboard Jungle. His last film at MGM was Key Witness (1960). Bruce Eder has written, "If ever a film editor deserved public recognition in the 1960s, it was Ferris Webster." Webster edited the three films of director John Frankenheimer's "paranoia trilogy": The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), and Seconds (1966). Eder writes that The Manchurian Candidate was "the editor's magnum opus. The shooting, cutting, and intercutting of one extended brainwashing sequence, seen from multiple points-of-view, is still striking decades later, and the movie earned Webster his second Academy Award nomination." Frankenheimer cast Webster in his only appearance as a film actor, as Air Force Gen. Bernard "Barney" Rutkowski in Seven Days in May. Webster was nominated for an Academy Award for the editing of The Great Escape (1963), which was directed by John Sturges. Webster and Sturges' notable collaboration included fifteen films between 1950 and 1972, which is about half of Sturges' films in that period. It started with The Magnificent Yankee and Mystery Street (1950), and included The Law and Jake Wade (1958), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and Ice Station Zebra (1968). The final film of their collaboration was Joe Kidd (1972), which was near the end of Sturges' career. Joe Kidd starred Clint Eastwood. In the last phase of his career, Webster edited and co-edited eight films that were directed by Eastwood, starting with High Plains Drifter (1973), which was Eastwood's second film as a director. Webster edited Breezy (1973), The Eiger Sanction (1975), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Bronco Billy (1980), Firefox (1982) and Honkytonk Man (both 1982). These latter two films with Eastwood concluded Webster's career as an editor, apparently after a falling-out between the two men. Additional credits include The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Lili (1953), Forbidden Planet (1956), Les Girls (1957), Divorce American Style (1967).

Most Famous Work

Every Which Way but Loose
Average
6
Magnum Force
Average
7

Magnum Force

(1973) Editor
Escape From Alcatraz
Average
8

Escape From Alcatraz

(1979) Editor
The Great Escape
Average
8

The Great Escape

(1963) Editor
The Magnificent Seven
Average
8

The Magnificent Seven

(1960) Editor
The Enforcer
Average
7

The Enforcer

(1976) Editor
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Average
7

The Outlaw Josey Wales

(1976) Editor
High Plains Drifter
Average
7

High Plains Drifter

(1973) Editor

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
Year Character Movie/Tv

Editing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1982 Editor
Editor
1980 Editor
1979 Editor
1978 Editor
1977 Editor
1976 Editor
Editor
1975 Editor
1974 Editor
1973 Editor
Editor
Editor
1972 Editor
1971 Editor
Editor
1970 Editor
Editor
Editor
1968 Editor
1967 Editor
Editor
1966 Editor
1965 Editor
Editor
1964 Editor
1963 Editor
1962 Editor
Editor
1961 Editor
Editor
1960 Editor
1959 Editor
Editor
1958 Editor
Editor
1957 Editor
Editor
1956 Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
1955 Editor
1954 Editor
1953 Editor
Editor
Editor
1952 Editor
Editor
1951 Editor
Editor
1950 Editor
Editor
Editor
1949 Editor
Editor
1948 Editor
1947 Editor
1946 Editor
Editor
1945 Editor
Editor
1944 Editor
1943 Editor
Year Role Movie/Tv

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