Walter Murch

Walter Murch, an American film editor, director and sound designer, is one of the most acclaimed editors in cinema history. Murch’s career began in the late 1960s when he was hired as an assistant editor for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People. Since then, he has worked on numerous major motion pictures, including Apocalypse Now, The Godfather trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy. He is best known for his pioneering use of the nonlinear digital editing system Avid, which revolutionized modern editing, and for his innovative and often surreal sound design techniques. He has won three Academy Awards for Best Editing, for The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and The English Patient.

Murch was born in New York City in 1943. His father was an architect and his mother was an architectural historian. As a child, Murch was fascinated with the production of music and film, and he developed a lifelong interest in the theories and techniques of classical composers and filmmakers. He studied music and mathematics at Harvard University, where he also studied film and editing techniques in the Institute of Film and Television.

It was at Harvard that Murch encountered the new digital nonlinear editing system Avid, which was to revolutionize editing. Murch taught himself the system, and he quickly began to use new editing strategies to create dynamic, dramatic effects. He also began to experiment with sound design, creating novel soundscapes by layering different frequencies and sounds.

Murch’s first feature film job was as the assistant editor on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People. He then went on to work with Coppola and the American Zoetrope studio for several years, editing many of Zoetrope’s most celebrated films, including American Graffiti and The Godfather trilogy. During this time, Murch developed many of the sophisticated editing techniques still in use today, such as parallel cutting and jump cuts.

Murch’s work on the trio of Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005 won him international acclaim. His inventive use of digital captures, previsualization and sound design techniques resulted in some of the most iconic scenes in film history. Murch also served as the sound designer for the omnibus film, Three Rooms in the Valley, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996.

Murch’s accomplishments in film editing and sound design have earned him much praise, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He has been awarded three Oscars for Best Editing—one for Apocalypse Now, one for The Conversation, and one for The English Patient. He won the prestigious American Cinema Editors (ACE) Odyssey Award for his editing work on The Conversation, a film for which he was also nominated for the Best Director Academy Award. He was also awarded a Career Achievement Award from the National Film Society.

Murch continues to work on major motion pictures, and his pioneering work on digital nonlinear editing systems has shaped modern film editing. As a director, sound designer, editor and theorist, Walter Murch is one of the most influential figures in film history, and his body of work is a testament to his skill and craftsmanship.