Picture editor William Steinkamp, ACE, led a life defined by collaborations.
Steinkamp, who died on March 25 at the age of 71, was one half of one of the most unique picture editing partnerships in modern Hollywood: On numerous films from the early 1980s through the early 1990s, Steinkamp was paired with his father, veteran picture editor Fredric Steinkamp. That collaboration led to other collaborations. As he acquired credits and respect within the industry, the younger Steinkamp developed fruitful working relationships with leading directors — first with the directors he worked with in tandem with his father, most notably Sydney Pollack, and later with the directors he worked with on his own, including Gary Fleder and Damian Lee.
No matter whom he was working with in or out of the cutting room, Steinkamp earned a reputation for his editorial excellence, consummate professionalism, and all-around good nature.
“Bill had the uncanny ability to navigate through literally miles of footage with precision and care,” said Michael Tronick, ACE in a statement to CineMontage. With Steinkamp and Harvey Rosenstock, ACE, Tronick co-edited Martin Brest’s acclaimed 1992 drama “Scent of a Woman.” “[Bill] deliberated over every splice — yes, this movie was cut on film — and his choices were impeccable.”
Tronick added, “Bill took the work seriously but didn’t hesitate to inject moments of levity and humor during those long editorial days and nights. His laugh was infectious and resonated up and down the long hallways of the Lantana cutting rooms.”
One of five children born to Fredric Steinkamp and his wife Janet, William grew up in a household whose service to the film industry was long and distinguished. In addition to his father, whose credits as picture editor included the classic MGM musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (1964) and John Frankenheimer’s racing picture “Grand Prix” (1966), his grandfather — Fredric’s father — was a pioneering sound mixer. Even so, William’s early aspirations revolved around an activity that took place far from cutting rooms on studio lots.
“My dad was a big golfer,” said his son, Jeff Steinkamp, noting that William attended college on a golf scholarship. “But he always was interested in film. At that time, everything was on film, so the only way to learn was to work in post houses.”
Having decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, William entered the film business as an assistant editor. He served in that role on two films that were edited by his father: Pollack’s racing drama “Bobby Deerfield” (1977) starring Al Pacino, and Billy Wilder’s penultimate film, “Fedora” (1978), starring William Holden. “He was very talented at it, and he made the jump to editor pretty quickly,” son Jeff said.
Within a few years of those credits, William began serving as co-editor with his renowned father. “They worked really well together,” said Jeff. “They each had their strengths.” Their early films as an editing duo included James Caan’s “Hide in Plain Sight” (1980), but soon they were collaborating with Pollack, a director with whom the elder Steinkamp had been working for over a decade. The first Pollack-SteinkampSteinkamp picture was fated for classic status: 1982’s “Tootsie,” starring Dustin Hoffman. The father-and-son editors were nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing. “My dad became friends with Dustin Hoffman after that,” Jeff said. “He really enjoyed working on that movie.”
Fredric and William also worked regularly for director Taylor Hackford, as on “Against All Odds” (1984) starring Jeff Bridges in a remake of the film noir “Out of the Past,” and for the Cold War drama “White Nights” (1985) starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.
But Pollack was eager to work with the Steinkamps again, and the two did not disappoint. In collaboration with Pembroke J. Herring and Sheldon Kahn, ACE, the Steinkamps co-edited “Out of Africa” (1985), the Best Picture Oscar winner on which the four film editors shared an Oscar nomination. Other films Fredric and William edited for Pollack included “Havana” (1990) and “The Firm” (1993).
“They would break up scenes according to how production was going and how much they were shooting,” Jeff said. “I remember hearing that Sydney had specific scenes he wanted my father to work on or my grandfather to work on. It was kind of fluid. Nothing was locked.
“If something wasn’t working with a scene, Sydney would just say, ‘Fix it,’” Jeff said. “He wasn’t a director who would handhold through a first edit. He wanted my dad and my grandfather to make a whole pass, to find on their own the rhythms and how scenes would work. Then Sydney’s big thing would be to dive into performance.”
Sometimes, Steinkamp the elder would start a movie with Pollack while Steinkamp the younger was working on another movie. But by the time the younger was finished, he would get onto the Pollack movie. “They would call up my dad and say, ‘All right, Sydney is never going to tell you he wants you to come back, but he wants you to come back,’” Jeff Steinkamp said.
Fredric Steinkamp edited one last film for Pollack on his own — the 1995 remake of the Humphrey Bogart/Audrey Hepburn romantic comedy “Sabrina,” this time starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. After that, William moved into the solo chair. For Pollack, he edited “Random Hearts” (1999) starring Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas and also the director’s final feature film, “The Interpreter” (2005), starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
Although William established himself as a solo editor both before and after his father’s death in 2002, he never let go of the things he had learned from a lifetime in the business. “Even back in 1992, when we worked on ‘Scent,’ Bill would be considered ‘old school,’” Tronick said. “Bill carried the lessons and traditions that he’d learned and had guided him in his impressive approach to every scene he touched.”
Jeff said his father considered editing to be a kind of “second writing.” “The writer wrote the script, but sometimes when we’re in the editing room, we’re rewriting the story because it didn’t translate on film the way everybody believed it would,” he said. “His biggest thing was story. In every scene, you’ve got to find the story.”
Over the years, William earned a reputation for forthrightness. “He would never lie to a director,” Jeff said. “If it didn’t work, it didn’t work, and he would tell him why and what they could do to fix it. I think that’s why he ended up doing a lot of ‘fix-it’ movies — he came onto a lot of movies after they had started.”
Outside of his work with Pollack, William worked to avoid being pigeonholed. Whether on his own or in collaboration with his father, William edited everything from the teenage comedy “Adventures in Babysitting” (1987) to the Christmas-themed classic “Scrooged” (1988) to the John Grisham drama “A Time to Kill” (1996). He was also Oscar-nominated for the romantic drama “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989), which he edited solo. He jumped seamlessly from project to project. “He felt that if it’s good editing, you’ll never notice as you watch,” Jeff said.
William Steinkamp, who had battled cancer for two years prior to his death, is survived by his wife, Terri; their children, Jeff and Jennifer; and four grandchildren.
–Peter Tonguette
