Sam O'Steen Biography

Fast Facts

• Honored by the Directors Guild of America numerous times, including the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television Award in 1976
• Passed away at age 76 after a sudden heart attack in Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Got his first experience on a Hollywood film lot after sneaking onto the Warner Brothers set in the early '50s, where he would tirelessly lobby for a job in the editing department until executives broke down and signed him to a contract in 1955
• Initially a film editor with Warner Brothers, he would go on to become a frequent collaborator with director Mike Nichols with whom he worked on 12 films throughout a 30 year period together
• His memoir, "Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies", was published posthumously in 2001 by his second wife Bobbie who had conducted various interviews and questionnaires with him over the course of their marriage
• Began his directorial debut in 1973 with the made-for-television film, "A Brand New Life"
• His memoir had been called 'one of the very best anecdotal histories of filmmaking' and is often referenced by fellow Hollywood hopefuls wanting to break into the industry