19 Facts About Rudi Fehr

Rudi Fehr had more than thirty credits as an editor of feature films including Key Largo, Dial M for Murder, and Prizzi's Honor.

Rudi Fehr worked for more than forty years for the Warner Brothers film studio, where he was the Head of Post-production from 1955 through 1976.

Rudi Fehr aspired to become a diplomat or a musician, but was recruited into the film industry, and edited his first film, Der Schlemihl, in 1931; he was just 20 years old.

Rudi Fehr then worked for several years with the producer Sam Spiegel, including work in Austria and England.

In 1936, Rudi Fehr, who was Jewish, fled the Nazi regime in Germany and moved to United States, travelling first class in April 1936 on the steamship, Washington.

Rudi Fehr landed a job at the Warner Brothers film studio in Hollywood, where he initially worked to substitute English sound tracks on two films for the original German ones.

Rudi Fehr soon became an assistant editor to Warren Low.

Rudi Fehr kept his arms behind his back in close-ups while a member of the studio orchestra perched on each side of him, their hands coming into frame to do the fingering and bowing.

Rudi Fehr then edited two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, I Confess and Dial M for Murder.

In 1980, Rudi Fehr became Head of Post-production for American Zoetrope, which was Francis Ford Coppola's production company.

In 1981, Rudi Fehr was co-editor for Coppola's One from the Heart ; it was his first editing credit since 1954.

Rudi Fehr taught film editing and post-production at the University of California - Los Angeles and at the California Institute of the Arts in the 1990s.

Rudi Fehr was the co-founder of the Los Angeles-West Berlin Sister City Committee.

Rudi Fehr was married to actress Maris Wrixon, whom he had met while they were both working on Million Dollar Baby.

Rudi Fehr died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1999; Wrixon died less than a year later.

In 1983, Rudi Fehr was awarded the Grand Medal of Merit by the president of West Germany, which acknowledged Rudi Fehr's work in establishing the sister city relationship of West Berlin and Los Angeles.

Rudi Fehr served as a board member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.

In 1990 Rudi Fehr received the Order of Merit of Berlin, again recognizing his work on establishing the city partnership with Berlin.

Rudi Fehr had been selected as a member of the American Cinema Editors shortly after its founding in 1950, and in 1993 he received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award.