Thelma Schoonmaker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thelma Schoonmaker
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Schoonmaker in 2023
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| Born |
Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker
January 3, 1940 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Occupation | Film editor |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouse(s) | |
Thelma Schoonmaker (born January 3, 1940) is a famous American film editor. She is best known for working with director Martin Scorsese for over 50 years. A film editor is like a storyteller who puts all the movie scenes together. Thelma has won many awards, including three Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) and two BAFTA Awards. She has also received special honors for her amazing work in movies.
Thelma started working with Martin Scorsese on his first movie, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967). She has edited all of his films since Raging Bull (1980). She has been nominated for the Best Film Editing Oscar nine times, which is a record! She won for Raging Bull, The Aviator (2004), and The Departed (2006). She also won two BAFTA Awards for Raging Bull and Goodfellas (1990).
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Early life and education
Thelma Schoonmaker was born on January 3, 1940, in Algiers, which was then part of French Algeria. Her parents, Thelma and Bertram Schoonmaker, were American. Her father worked for the Standard Oil Company, which meant the family lived in many different countries.
During World War II, the Schoonmakers moved back to the United States. In 1941, they moved to Aruba, an island in the Caribbean. Thelma grew up mostly in Aruba, in a community with people from all over the world. She also spent some time living in Portugal.
Thelma didn't live in the United States until she was 15 years old in 1955. She found American culture quite new and different. She settled in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and finished high school there in 1957. Thelma was interested in working for the government, perhaps as a diplomat.
She went to Cornell University in 1957, where she studied political science and the Russian language. After graduating in 1961, she tried to get a job with the U.S. government. However, she didn't get the job because her strong opinions against apartheid (a system of unfair separation in South Africa) were seen as "too politically liberal" at the time.
Career in film
While taking a class at Columbia University, Thelma saw an advertisement for a job helping a film editor. She got the job, which involved cutting parts out of classic European films to make them shorter for TV.
She then took a short filmmaking course at New York University. There, she met a young filmmaker named Martin Scorsese. He was having trouble finishing his short film. Thelma helped him fix it. This led to her editing Scorsese's first full-length movie, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).
Thelma got her first big recognition for her work on the music documentary Woodstock in 1970. She was part of the editing team and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing. This was special because it was the first time a documentary was nominated in that category. Her creative editing, using techniques like superimposition (layering images) and freeze frames (holding a single image), made the film exciting and helped show how artistic documentary filmmaking could be.
For a while, Thelma found it hard to work on big movies. To edit feature films, she needed to join the Motion Picture Editors Guild. But the union had strict rules, requiring years of training as an apprentice and assistant. Thelma, who was already an Oscar nominee, didn't want to start over. This meant she didn't work officially with Scorsese on movies in the 1970s, though she did help out on Taxi Driver without getting credit.
In the 1980s, with help from Scorsese, Thelma finally joined the union. They worked together on the sports drama Raging Bull. Her editing on this film was considered amazing, and she won her first Oscar for it. When she accepted the award, she thanked Marty Scorsese, saying he edited the film with her "every minute of the time."
Thelma has continued to work with Martin Scorsese on many famous films. Some of these include Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Hugo (2011), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Irishman (2019), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
Personal life
Thelma met film director Michael Powell through Martin Scorsese. They got married on May 19, 1984, and were together until Michael's death in 1990. They did not have any children.
Since Michael Powell passed away, Thelma has worked hard to protect his films and honor his memory. Michael Powell directed many classic movies with his partner, Emeric Pressburger. Thelma often talks about how much she loves their films, like The Red Shoes and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.
Achievements and recognition
Thelma Schoonmaker has won three Oscars for Best Film Editing, which ties the record for the most wins in that category. She is also the first woman to win more than one Oscar for film editing. She holds the record for the most nominations in that category, with nine.
In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild listed the 75 best-edited films of all time. Three films edited by Thelma Schoonmaker made the list: Raging Bull (ranked first), Goodfellas (ranked fifteenth), and Hugo (ranked sixty-ninth). This shows how highly respected her work is in the film industry.
Awards and honors
Thelma Schoonmaker has received many important awards and honors throughout her career.
- She has won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing:
* Raging Bull (1981) * The Aviator (2005) * The Departed (2007)
- She has won two BAFTA Awards for Best Editing:
* Raging Bull (1982) * Goodfellas (1991)
- She has won four ACE Eddie Awards for Best Edited Feature Film:
* Raging Bull (1981) * Gangs of New York (2003) * The Aviator (2005) * The Departed (2007)
Thelma has also received many special honors for her contributions to film:
- British Film Institute Fellowship (1997)
- Hollywood Outstanding Achievement in Editing Award (2000)
- Gucci Award for Women in Cinema (2012)
- Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival (2014)
- American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award (2017)
- BAFTA Fellowship (2019)
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the Online Film Critics Society (2024)
See also
In Spanish: Thelma Schoonmaker para niños
- List of film director and editor collaborations
