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64 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2016 by Michael Goldman portraits by Wm. Stetz A sked to reflect on his many career achievements and adventures while he's sitting in his Los Angeles living room on a warm October afternoon, Oscar-winning editor Jerry Greenberg, ACE, briefly hesitates. "I don't want to give the impression that I'm going toward the end of my professional life knowing that the only thing I'm doing is telling anecdotes," he explains. "I've told many of them before, after all, though the older I get, I realize they are entertaining and an indicator of what my experience may have been." This time, however, Greenberg seeks a way to adequately express how much in love he is with the artform of cinematic editing, a relationship that began when he was a young man and escalated to the point where he now calls editing "my mistress, my distraction, the thing I always wanted in my life." To do that, he patiently explains that he "backed into this business" originally and became attracted to "the rhythm and thought process" that goes into editing. The affair worked out great for Greenberg. Since the 1960s, he's amassed over 40 feature film editing credits, including The French Connection (1971), for which he won an Academy Award; Apocalypse Now (1979), for which he was co-nominated for an Oscar, along with Walter Murch, ACE, CAS, MPSE, Lisa Fruchtman and Richard Marks, ACE; Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Scarface (1983) and many others. In 2015, the American Cinema Editors (ACE) presented him with its Career Achievement Award. This fall, his work on The French Connection returned to prominence as that film celebrated its 45th anniversary. Proud as he is of his body of work, however, Greenberg is more gratified by the fact that he once served as apprentice, assistant and, more importantly, dear friend to award-winning editing legend Dede Allen, ACE (Bonnie & Clyde, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Breakfast Club, among many others). So, in talking to him, if it is fond memories you want, Allen is an excellent place to start. "All my experiences with Dede were…I don't have one word for it," Greenberg says softly. "I became an acolyte. She was such a pillar of the editing world, of course. But to me, she was always much more than just that. What was it like for me? Life-saving. I'm not a sentimentalist Jerry Greenberg's Long Love Affair with Editing A scene from The French Connection (1971), for which Jerry Greenberg won an Oscar. The film was released 45 years ago this fall. 20th Century-Fox