Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1262492
66 C I N E M O N T A G E I N M E M O R I A M P H O T O : J O H A N N A S H A P I R O The life of music editor Else Blangsted encompassed the transition from silent films to talkies and from the old studio system to the New Hollywood. Blangsted, who died on May 1 at the age of 99 (and just 21 days shy of her 1 0 0 t h b i r t h d ay ), a c k n ow l e d ge d h e r longevity but didn't see it as a source of pride. "Like everyone else, I did my job, and I did my best," Blangsted said in a 2011 interview in Patch.com. "I just did it longer, not better." Blangsted's peers might take issue with her self-deprecation. In recognition of her work on such films as "On Golden Pond" (1981), " Tootsie" (1982), and "Under the Volcano" (1984), the Motion Picture Sound Editors honored Blangsted with its Career Achievement Award in 2006 — the first time the award had been given to a music editor. Despite the plaudits she won within the industry, Blangsted's life began far from the glare of Hollywood. Born in Wurzburg, Germany, Blangsted survived the Holocaust and a series of personal reversals, including, as an adolescent, giving birth to a child whom she thought to be dead but who in fact had been adopted; mother and child were reunited many decades later. She arrived in south- ern California to work in the employ of director Mervyn LeRoy — not as a post-production professional, however, but as a nanny. Blangsted in time established herself as an in-demand music editor, working repeatedly with directors including Sydney Pollack and Norman Jewison. In 1960, Blangsted married Folmar Blang- sted, ACE, a picture editor whose credits included classic films stretching back to the 1940s, including "Flamingo Road" (1949) and "A Star Is Born" (1954). By the time of Folmar 's death, in 1982, Else was consistently assigned t o p p ro j e c t s, o f t e n i n t a n d e m w i t h composer Dave Grusin. Other notable Blangsted-Grusin collaborations include "The Front" (1976), "Absence of Malice" (1981), and "A Dry White Season" (1989). Blangsted retired in 1990 after serving as editorial music consultant on "The Bonfire of the Vanities." "I'm a translator," she told me when I interviewed her in 2004. "I'm now waxing poetry…because I can't tell you the technicality of it, which has certainly changed drastically since I did it." "The composer is hired to write a score, music for a film, which is ideally to support, enhance whatever story value is already in the film," she added. "That's how I see it. I don't know whether that is accurate as other people see it, but you add, you translate, you support what is already there." Blangsted — who is survived by two daughters, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren — saw her profes- sion her way, winning the admiration o f i n n u m e ra b l e c o l l e a g u e s t h ro u g h the years. — Peter Tonguette THE GUILD'S MEMORIAL ROLL CALL ELSE BLANGSTED MAY 22, 1920–MAY 1, 2020 ROBERT BAMFORD ON CALL EDITOR (JANUARY 11, 1946 – FEBRUARY 3, 2020) 45 YEARS A MEMBER EDWARD BASTILLE ON CALL EDITOR (MAY 26, 1953 – DECEMBER 21, 2019) 33 YEARS A MEMBER MORTON FALLICK ON CALL EDITOR (NOVEMBER 7, 1933 – APRIL 22, 2020) 44 YEARS A MEMBER ALLAN GELBART ON CALL EDITOR (MARCH 28, 1949 – FEBRUARY 6, 2020) 33 YEARS A MEMBER SUSAN HEICK ASSISTANT EDITOR (MAY 27, 1943 – FEBRUARY 20, 2020) 41 YEARS A MEMBER GRANT HOAG ON CALL EDITOR (OCTOBER 16, 1931 – MARCH 1, 2020) 63 YEARS A MEMBER