Doane Harrison

Doane Harrison was an American film editor whose career spanned four decades. For nearly twenty years, from 1935–54, he was a prolific editor of films for Paramount Pictures, including eleven films with director Mitchell Leisen. For twenty-five years, from 1941–1966, Harrison was editor, editorial supervisor or associate producer on all the films directed by Billy Wilder, who is now considered one of the great 20th-century filmmakers.

Early career

Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Harrison began his career during the silent film era. The earliest phase of his career and his education don't appear to have been documented. In 1925–1926, he was credited as the editor for nine films starring Richard Talmadge, and produced by Richard Talmadge Productions.
By 1928, he was editing films produced by Pathé Exchange. In 1933 he edited his eleventh film starring Richard Talmadge, On Your Guard. By 1935, Harrison had joined Paramount Pictures, one of the major Hollywood studios. Harrison remained at Paramount for more than eighteen years. His first film there was Four Hours to Kill!, which was directed by Mitchell Leisen; at Pathé Exchange, Leisen had been the art director and Harrison the editor on three films. Their notable director-editor collaboration ultimately stretched over twenty-three years and eleven films, including Hold Back the Dawn, which received six Academy Award nominations, Easy Living, Midnight, and Remember the Night.

Collaboration with Billy Wilder

Harrison is probably best remembered for his long association with Billy Wilder. As a new immigrant to the United States in the 1930s, Wilder had found work as a screenwriter for Paramount, where Harrison was also working as an editor. Wilder and Harrison both worked on Midnight in 1939, and again on Hold Back the Dawn in 1941. By 1942, Wilder had persuaded the management at Paramount to assign him as the director of the comedy The Major and the Minor; Wilder had previously directed just a single film in France. Wilder asked that Harrison be assigned as the film's editor. Wilder has been quoted as saying about this early assignment, "I worked with a very good cutter, Doane Harrison, from whom I learned a great deal. He was much more of a help to me than the cameraman. When I became a director from a writer my technical knowledge was very meagre." Sam Stagg has described their early collaboration, "In valuable early lessons, Harrison taught Wilder how to preplan each shot as part of a total editing scheme. The results: Time and money saved, and few protection shots required. "
The Major and the Minor was successful, and launched Wilder's directing career. Harrison worked on all the films directed by Wilder for the next 25 years, through The Fortune Cookie ; their unusually close collaboration involved Harrison in filming as well as editing.
Harrison was credited as editorial supervisor on the next several films that Wilder directed, through Sunset Boulevard. Harrison was credited as an "editorial consultant" on Sabrina, which was the last film at Paramount for Wilder and Harrison. After leaving Paramount, Harrison was an associate producer on eight, and production associate on two of Wilder's films, from The Seven Year Itch through The Fortune Cookie.

Final cuts

Harrison's and Wilder's notable director-editor collaboration had extended over ten films, from The Major and the Minor through Sabrina. While he was working with Wilder, Harrison also edited more films by other directors; his final editing credit, for The Girl Most Likely, was a reunion with director Mitchell Leisen. He acted as a consultant to Mike Nichols on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which was the first film Nichols directed.
Harrison was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for three films directed by Wilder: Five Graves to Cairo, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard. Harrison died in 1968 in Riverside, California, aged 74.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Director	Role	Notes
1944	Double Indemnity	Billy Wilder	Editorial supervisor	Third collaboration with Billy Wilder
1945	The Unseen	Lewis Allen	Supervising editor	Second collaboration with Lewis Allen
1945	The Lost Weekend	Billy Wilder	Editorial supervisor	Fourth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1948	The Emperor Waltz	Billy Wilder	Editorial supervisor	Fifth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1949	Dear Wife	Richard Haydn	Editorial supervisor	Second collaboration with Richard Haydn
1950	Sunset Boulevard	Billy Wilder	Editorial supervisor	Seventh collaboration with Billy Wilder
1950	Branded	Rudolph Maté	Editorial supervisor	First collaboration with Rudolph Maté
1950	Mr. Music	Richard Haydn	Supervising editor	Third collaboration with Richard Haydn
1951	When [Worlds Collide (1951 film)\|When Worlds Collide]	Rudolph Maté	Editorial supervisor	Second collaboration with Rudolph Maté
1951	Thunder in the East	Charles Vidor	Editorial supervisor	Second collaboration with Charles Vidor
1952	Somebody Loves Me	Irving Brecher	Editorial consultant
1953	The Girls of Pleasure Island		Editorial advisor
1953	Stalag 17	Billy Wilder	Editorial advisor	Ninth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1953	Forever Female	Irving Rapper	Editorial advisor
1954	Sabrina	Billy Wilder	Editorial advisor	Tenth collaboration with Billy Wilder

Year	Film	Director	Role	Notes
1957	The Spirit of St. Louis	Billy Wilder	Production associate	Twelfth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1957	Witness for the Prosecution	Billy Wilder	Production associate	Fourteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1959	The Jayhawkers!	Melvin Frank	Assistant to producers
1962	Convicts 4	Millard Kaufman	Assistant to producer
1963	My Six Loves	Gower Champion	Production associate
1966	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Mike Nichols	Production advisor

Year	Film	Director	Credit	Notes
1955	The Seven Year Itch	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Eleventh collaboration with Billy Wilder
1957	Love in the Afternoon	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Thirteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1959	Some Like It Hot	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Fifteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1960	The Apartment	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Sixteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1961	One, Two, Three	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Seventeenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1963	My Six Loves	Gower Champion	Associate producer
1963	Irma la Douce	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Eighteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1964	Kiss Me, Stupid	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Nineteenth collaboration with Billy Wilder
1966	The Fortune Cookie	Billy Wilder	Associate producer	Twentieth collaboration with Billy Wilder

;Documentaries

Year	Film	Director
1953	The [Sea Around Us (film)\|The Sea Around Us]	Irwin Allen