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Tom Priestley Dies: ‘Deliverance’ Film Editor, Son Of ‘An Inspector Calls’ Playwright J.B. Priestley Was 91


Tom Priestley, the son of British playwright and novelist J.B. Priestley who established his own show business career as an Oscar-nominated film editor on such major projects as John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972), Blake Edwards’ The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) and Roman Polanski‘s Tess (1979), died December 25. He was 91. His death was […]

Born Tom Holland Priestley on April 22, 1932, in London, he was educated at Bryanston School and King’s College, Cambridge, before beginning his professional career at Shepperton Studios in various capacities, including as an assistant sound editor. In addition to Deliverance – which brought his sole Oscar nomination, for film editing – Priestley collaborated with Boorman on Leo the Last(1970) and Exorcist II: The Heretic(1977). While his career began to slow during the 1980s, he edited Michael Radford’s high-profile adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 starring John Hurt and Richard Burton (1984).

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