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SUE BLAINEY MAY 27, 1963 - FEBRUARY 20, 2024 W h e n S u e B l a i n e y, AC E , w a s a little girl, she and her big sis- ter, Libby, would often be glued to the TV after school, watching "Gilli- gan's Island" and "Bewitched" until they heard a car come down the drive of their family home in Sydney, Australia. They'd jump up, switch off the TV, and scurry into the kitchen table, pretending to be do- ing homework. The younger Blainey was drawn to those stories and could be found weeping after watching a particularly touching black-and- white movie, such as "Lassie Come Home." It was perhaps those earliest memories of being swept up into the magic of cinema that helped her build a successful career in film and television picture editing that spanned several decades and two conti- nents, including work on such hits as "Lost" and "Six Feet Under." With Libby by her side, Sue Blainey passed away in February at the age of 60 after two years with metastatic breast cancer, leaving behind sister Robyn, brother David, three nieces, three rescue dogs, and numerous colleagues and friends in the editing world and beyond. 'BRINGING LAUGHTER' After briefly attending North Sydney Technical College's film and television pro- gram, Blainey got her start in editing when a neighbor introduced her to Alan Lake. He saw a bright young spark and gave her a full-time job at Film Production Services. Her f irst project was assisting Lake in editing the 1983 film "BMX Bandits," which was directed by Brian Trenchard Smith and starred a very young Nicole Kidman. Blain- ey's talent — much like Kidman's — was already apparent. L o u i s e I n n e s, w h o'd b e e n a f e l l o w assistant editor with Blainey in Australia in the 1980s, reconnected with her around 10 years ago on a show. "It's so easy if you know someone from your early days," Innes remembered. "She was always bringing laughter into the room, and also was obvi- ously very skilled in her work." B l a i n e y w o r k e d a t t h e A u s t r a l i a n post-production facility Spectrum Films where she met a number of great editors, directors, and sound designers and gained additional experience. "There was great camaraderie amongst the workers, and much was learned slipping in and out of others' editing suites," Libby Blainey explained. "And fantastic parties were held in the backyard there." Never one to "live to work," the younger Blainey could be found after-hours at a local pub enjoying time with her friends, listening to punk bands playing live music, and drinking cheap beer. But she was also serious about her editing career, and in early 1989, she made the decision to leave Australia for New York City. She found a new editing home at Sound One Studios in the iconic Brill Building in Manhattan, where Blainey remembered being "thrilled and surprised" to catch the elevator with acclaimed filmmakers and actors working there such as Martin Scors- ese, Spike Lee, Julie Andrews, and Dustin Hoffman. "You never knew who you would run into!" she recalled in 2008. Friend and sound editor Dan Edelstein remembered that Sound One "was a second home (and family) for all of us." Blainey's first union job came in 1990 when she served as apprentice editor for Kristina Boden, ACE, on "The Comfort of Strangers." The pair became best friends for more than 30 years after an introduction from the late Bill Nisselson, the longtime manager of Sound One. Elizabeth Nevin said that Blainey was living downtown at the time on Elizabeth Street. "We quickly became good friends," Nevin said. "We'd spend a lot of time at Milano's bar on Houston St. Sue had a large group of Australian friends, and she was generous with her time and so much fun." Some of Blainey's favorite projects from that time included cutting "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" in 1994 in her native Australia,as well as her later work on the acclaimed series "Oz" and "Six Feet Under." Blainey earned both Emmy and Eddy award nominations in 2006 for her work on "Lost." But on April 19, 2007, a moment came that she'd long been waiting for, said a friend, the agent Craig Mizrahi. "'I AM OF- FICIALLY AN ACE!!!" she exclaimed to him in an email. "Sue was so proud to be part of this [ACE] organization," he added. "She was a supremely talented film editor whose work ethic was unmatched." THE BIG MOVE After several years traveling back and forth between New York and Los Angeles, Blainey decided to put down roots in Los Angeles in 2005. Her steady income from work on hits like "House" helped fuel her in- terest in building a space of her own where she could host friends and family from both coasts. In fact, Mizrahi said she'd put him up rent-free for seven months while she was away working in the UK. "That's who Sue was, always thinking about everyone else 47 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E I N M E M O R I A M