13 Facts About Sam O'Steen

Samuel Alexander O'Steen was an American film editor and director.

Sam O'Steen had an extended, notable collaboration with the director Mike Nichols, with whom he edited 12 films between 1966 and 1994.

Sam O'Steen was born in Paragould, Arkansas but raised in California.

Sam O'Steen was finally able to secure a position as an assistant editor in 1956, when he became George Tomasini's assistant editor on Alfred Hitchcock's 1957 film The Wrong Man.

Sam O'Steen was Nichols' principal editor for nearly thirty years, during which he edited twelve of Nichols' films; their last film together was Wolf.

Sam O'Steen gives the audience time to study the performer's face before cutting the scene.

Sam O'Steen allows for long, personal looks at Hoffman's facial expressions to give the viewers an idea of what the character is thinking instead of the "quick-cutting" seen so often in modern films.

Sam O'Steen directed seven films for television in the 1970s and 1980s, most notably Queen of the Stardust Ballroom and Kids Don't Tell.

Sam O'Steen's editing of The Graduate was honored by a BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and he was nominated for this award again for Chinatown.

Sam O'Steen was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Chinatown, and Silkwood.

In 1976, Sam O'Steen won the "Most Outstanding Television Director" award from the Directors Guild of America.

Sam O'Steen was nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy" for his work on Queen of the Stardust Ballroom.

Sam O'Steen's memoir, Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies, was published in 2001, shortly after his death.