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Verna Fields
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Verna Fields (née Hellman; March 21, 1918 – November 30, 1982) was an American film editor, film and television sound editor, educator, and entertainment industry executive. In the first phase of her career, from 1954 through to about 1970, Fields mostly worked on smaller projects that gained little recognition. She was the sound editor for several television shows in the 1950s. She worked on independent films including The Savage Eye (1959), on government-supported documentaries of the 1960s, and on some minor studio films such as Peter Bogdanovich's first film, Targets (1968). For several years in the late 1960s, she was a film instructor at the University of Southern California. Her one major studio film, El Cid (1961), led to her only industry recognition in this phase of her career, which was the 1962 Golden Reel award for sound editing.

Key Information

Fields came into prominence as a film editor and industry executive during the 'New Hollywood' era (1968–1982). She had established close ties with the directors Peter Bogdanovich, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg early in their careers, and became known as their "mother cutter"; the term "cutter" is an informal variation of "film editor". The critical and commercial success of the films What's Up, Doc? (1972), American Graffiti (1973), and Jaws (1975) brought Fields a level of recognition that was unique among film editors at the time. Jaws in particular was enormously and unexpectedly profitable, and was part of the wave of films that ushered in the era of the "summer blockbuster".[1][2] Fields' contributions to this success were widely acknowledged. She received an Academy Award and an American Cinema Editors Award for best editing for the film. Within a year of the film's release, she had been appointed as Vice-President for Feature Production at Universal Pictures. She was thus among the first women to enter upper-level management in the entertainment industry. Her career as an executive at Universal continued until her death in 1982 at age 64.

Early life, education, and training

[edit]

Verna Hellman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of Selma (née Schwartz) and Samuel Hellman, who was then working as a journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Saturday Evening Post. Sam Hellman subsequently moved his family to Hollywood, where he became a prolific screenwriter.[3]

Verna Hellman graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in journalism. She then held several positions at 20th Century Fox, including being the assistant sound editor on Fritz Lang's film The Woman in the Window (1944). In 1946, she married the film editor Sam Fields and stopped working.[4] The Fieldses had two sons; one of them, Richard Fields, became a film editor. In 1954, Sam Fields died of a heart attack at the age of 38.[5][6]

Career in sound editing

[edit]

After her husband died, Fields began a career as a television sound editor working on such shows as Death Valley Days and the children's programs Sky King and Fury. She installed a film editing lab in her home so that she could work at night while her children were young; she told them that she was the "Queen of Saturday morning".[5]

By 1956, she was working on films as well. Her first credit as a sound editor was for Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956). She worked on the experimental documentary The Savage Eye (1959); the co-directors Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, and Joseph Strick and the other connections she made on this film were important to her subsequent career. In 1962 Fields won the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for the film El Cid (directed by Anthony Mann).[5]

Following El Cid (1961), Fields was the sound editor on several lesser-known films, including the experimental film The Balcony (1963) with her Savage Eye colleagues Strick and Maddow. Peter Bogdanovich's first, low-budget film Targets (1968) was one of her last sound-editing projects,[7] and represents her mature work. Bill Warren has described the scene in which the character Bobby starts sniping at freeway drivers from the top of a large oil storage tank: "The sound is mono, and brilliantly mixed – the entire sequence of Bobby shooting from the tanks was shot without sound. Verna Fields, then a sound editor, added all the sound effects. The result is seamlessly realistic, from the scrape of the guns on the metal of the tanks, to the crack of the rifles, to the little gasps Bobby makes just before firing."[8]

Film editing and teaching

[edit]

Fields' career as a film editor commenced when the director Irving Lerner recruited her to be the editor of the film Studs Lonigan (1960); Fields and Lerner had both worked on The Savage Eye. In 1963, she edited An Affair of the Skin, which was directed by Ben Maddow (another Savage Eye contact). Over the next five years, Fields edited several other independent films, but her best known work was on the Disney film The Legend of the Boy and the Eagle (1967). She also made documentaries funded by the United States government through the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the United States Information Agency (USIA), and the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).[5][6]

Starting in the mid-1960s, Fields taught film editing at the University of Southern California (USC). Douglas Gomery wrote of her time at USC that: [9]

Her greatest impact came when she began to teach film editing to a generation of students at the University of Southern California. She then operated on the fringes of the film business, for a time making documentaries for the Office of Economic Opportunity. The end of that Federal Agency pushed her back into mainstream Hollywood then being overrun by her former USC students.

Fields' students had included Matthew Robbins, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, John Milius and George Lucas.[6]

Fields left no written lectures from her USC years, but a transcript exists from a 1975 seminar that she gave at the American Film Institute. In one characteristic excerpt she said that, "There's a feeling of movement in telling a story and there is a flow. A cut that is off-rhythm will be disturbing and you will feel it, unless you want it to be like that. On Jaws, each time I wanted to cut I didn't, so that it would have an anticipatory feeling — and it worked."[10]

In 1971, Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Fields had worked on Targets, recruited her to edit What's Up, Doc? (1972); Bogdanovich had edited his previous films himself.[11] The film was very successful, and is now considered as the second of Bogdanovich's 'golden period' that commenced with The Last Picture Show (1971).[5]

What's Up, Doc? established Fields as an editor on studio films. She subsequently edited Bogdanovich's final golden period film, Paper Moon (1973), as well as his less successful film Daisy Miller (1974).

George Lucas and American Graffiti

[edit]

In 1967, Fields had hired George Lucas to help edit Journey to the Pacific (1968), which was a documentary film written and directed by Gary Goldsmith for the USIA.[12] She had also hired Marcia Griffin for the job, and introduced Griffin and George Lucas; the couple subsequently married. In 1972, Lucas was directing American Graffiti. While Lucas had intended that his wife would edit the film, Universal asked him to add Verna Fields to the editing team. Over the first ten weeks of post-production, George and Marcia Lucas, along with Fields and Walter Murch (as sound editor), pieced together the original, 165-minute version of the film. Each of more than 40 scenes in the film had a continuously playing background song, with songs that had been popular around 1962, when the film's story was set.[13] Michael Sragow has characterized the effect as "using rock 'n roll as a Greek chorus with a beat".[14][15]

Fields then left American Graffiti. It took another six months of editing to create a shorter, 110-minute version of the film, but upon its release in 1973 American Graffiti was extremely successful both with critics and at the box office.[13] Shortly after its release, Roger Greenspun described the film and its editing: "American Graffiti exists not so much in its individual stories as in its orchestration of many stories, its sense of time and place. Although it is full of the material of fashionable nostalgia, it never exploits nostalgia. In its feeling for movement and music and the vitality of the night—and even in its vision in white—it is oddly closer to some early Fellini than to the recent American past of, say, The Last Picture Show or Summer of '42."[16]

Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas were nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing in 1974 for their work on American Graffiti; while the film won no Academy Awards, Marcia Lucas, Murch, and Fields all won Academy Awards for later work.

Steven Spielberg and Jaws

[edit]

Fields edited Steven Spielberg's first major film, The Sugarland Express (1974). She became widely celebrated for her work as the film editor on Spielberg's next film, Jaws (1975), for which she won both the Academy Award for Film Editing and the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award in 1976. Leonard Maltin has characterized her editing as "sensational".[17] Gerald Peary, who interviewed Fields in 1980, wrote that, "Jaws scared the world, brought in a fortune for Universal, and made Verna Fields, who won an Academy Award, about as famous 'overnight' as an editor ever gets."[5] He then quoted Fields as saying that, "Steven told me it was because I had cut the first picture that was a monumental success in which you can really see the editing. And people discovered that it was a woman who edited Jaws."

The editing of Jaws has been intensely studied for over thirty years.[2][18][19][20] [21][22] In film editor Susan Korda's 2005 lecture, "We'll Fix It in the Edit!?", at the Berlinale Talent Campus, she broadly explained the contribution of editing to the film: "What is fascinating in Jaws is that the shark has a personality, the shark has an intelligence, indeed sometimes I think the shark has a sense of humor, morbid as it might be. And that was all achieved in the first two acts of the film before you see the shark. So the cutting was very essential for that."[20] David Bordwell has used the second shark attack scene in Jaws as (literally) a textbook illustration of an editing innovation that occurred in the late 1960s.[19] The innovation, which Fields herself named the "wipe by cut", can be used when a character is filmed from a distance using a telephoto lens. The cut to a different framing of the character occurs during the interruption by a figure who passes between the camera and the character. The cut thus masks itself, and avoids drawing the viewer's attention away from the narrative of the scene.

The critic David Edelstein's affectionate comments on Jaws and its editing are also a good indication of the film's lasting influence 30 years after its release:[21]

Jaws is still one of my favorite movies. I didn't know I could be manipulated like that—so wittily, so teasingly, in a way that made me laugh at my own fear. (The only Hitchcock film I'd seen in a theater was Frenzy, which was too sick to appreciate in the same vein.) What clinched it was that unbelievably brilliant sequence that begins with a high-angle shot of Roy Scheider dropping fish entrails in the water as shark bait. He was resentful; he said to Shaw and Dreyfuss, "Why don't you guys come down here and shovel some of this shit?" And we started to laugh—he said "shit!" heh-heh—and then the head of the shark appeared in the water (no music, no foreshadowing), and I felt my mind detach from my body and my laugh turn into a shriek and merge into the collective shriek of everyone in that huge theater. I literally shook for the rest of the movie: Every cut by the late Verna Fields had me poised to leap out of my seat. (I really learned to appreciate editing from Jaws.)

On a 2012 listing of the 75 best edited films of all time that was compiled by the Motion Picture Editors Guild, Jaws was listed eighth.[23]

Management for Universal Studios

[edit]

Shortly after the completion of Jaws in 1975, Fields was hired by Universal as an executive consultant. Some insight into Universal's reasons for hiring her can be gleaned from the fact that during the filming of Jaws, in addition to her editing, Fields had been "omnipresent...at Spielberg's beck and call by means of a walkie-talkie. Often she would shuttle back and forth on her bike between the producers in town and Spielberg at the dock for last-minute decisions".[6] The producers of Jaws were David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck. Along with Brown, Zanuck, and Peter Benchley (the book's author), Fields helped promote Jaws on the "talk show circuit" in the eight months before its saturation release to 464 theaters on June 20, 1975.[24] Fields had plainly earned the confidence of the producers and of the studio executives at Universal.

Throughout her career, Fields had worked independently, but in 1976, and following the unexpected success of Jaws, she accepted a position as the Feature-Production Vice-President with Universal.[9][25] She was thus among the first women to hold high executive positions with the major studios.[26] In a 1982 interview, Fields was quoted as saying, "I got a lot of credit for Jaws, rightly or wrongly."[27][28]

Fields had come "up from the cutting room floor" and out of the customary, near-anonymity of film editors.[6][29] Regarding this change in her career path, Fields told Peary in 1980 that "All these young filmmakers are possessive. They feel I belong to them, and they feel a certain resentment - that I went to the other side. In calmer moments, of course, they know it isn't true, that I can do more for them now."[5] Of Fields' work at Universal, Joel Schumacher was quoted in 1982 as saying: "In the record business, you have Berry Gordy and Ahmet Ertegün. They're executives who actually made records. In the movie business, as an executive who's worked with film, you have only Verna. She saves Universal a fortune...every day."[27]

Later life and death

[edit]

In 1981, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.[30]

Fields held her position as a vice president at Universal until her death in 1982. Jaws was the last film that she edited. There had apparently been some discussion that Fields might edit Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),[25] but Michael Kahn took responsibility, and edited all but one of Spielberg's films for the next 30 years. After John D. Hancock, the initial director of Jaws 2, was sacked, it was suggested that Fields co-direct it with Joe Alves. Jeannot Szwarc, a Fields' protégé, was hired to complete the film.[31]

Fields died of cancer in Los Angeles, California on November 30, 1982. She was 64 years old.[4] In her honor, Universal named a building at its Universal City, California lot the Verna Fields Building; it lies immediately across from the Alfred Hitchcock Building.[32] The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) sponsor an annual Verna Fields Award for Student Sound Editing.[33] The Women in Film Foundation, which honored Fields with its Crystal Award in 1981,[30] presently administers the Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship for women film students at UCLA.[34]

Selected filmography (editor)

[edit]
Year Film Director Other notes
1975 Jaws Steven Spielberg Best Editing Oscar
1974 Memory of Us H. Kaye Dyal
Daisy Miller Peter Bogdanovich
The Sugarland Express Steven Spielberg
1973 American Graffiti George Lucas Best Editing Oscar nomination (with Marcia Lucas)
Paper Moon Peter Bogdanovich
Sing a Country Song Jack McCallum
1972 What's Up, Doc? Peter Bogdanovich
1969 Medium Cool Haskell Wexler Paul Golding is credited as editorial consultant.

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Verna Fields

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Verna Fields (March 21, 1918 – November 30, 1982) was an American film and sound editor whose innovative work on Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) earned her the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, transforming a troubled production into a landmark thriller by emphasizing through selective cuts of the shark's appearances. Fields began her career in Hollywood as an assistant editor in the 1940s, contributing to films such as Belle of the Yukon (1945) and The Woman in the Window (1944), before transitioning to sound editing in the 1950s and television work from 1954 onward. By 1960, she had shifted to film editing, with early credits including Studs Lonigan (1960) and Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool (1969), amassing 19 sound editing credits alongside 19 film editing ones over her career. In the mid-1960s, Fields taught film editing at the , where she mentored future directors like . Her collaborations with key New Hollywood directors defined her later successes: she edited Peter Bogdanovich's comedies What's Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973), earning acclaim for her rhythmic pacing, followed by George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973), which brought her an Academy Award nomination. Fields then worked with Spielberg on The Sugarland Express (1974) before her pivotal role on Jaws, where her decisions to minimize shark footage and heighten tension through environmental cues—such as thrashing water—proved instrumental to the film's blockbuster status. Affectionately nicknamed "Mother Cutter" by Bogdanovich, Lucas, and Spielberg for her nurturing guidance and expertise, Fields broke barriers as one of the few women in the field, culminating in her 1976 appointment as vice president for feature production at Universal Studios, a pioneering executive role she held until her death from cancer in 1982.

Early Life and Education

Birth and Family

Verna Fields was born Verna Hellman on March 21, 1918, in , . She was the daughter of Hellman, formerly the managing editor of , and his wife Selma Schwartz Hellman. Her family relocated to in pursuit of her father's career, an environment that exposed her to the film industry from an early age and nurtured her interests in storytelling and entertainment. In 1946, Verna Hellman married film editor Samuel Fields, adopting his surname professionally and personally. The couple had two sons, Richard (also known as Rick) and Kenneth Hellman Fields. Following Samuel's sudden death in 1954, Verna Fields became a single mother, raising her sons while re-entering the workforce to support her family.

Academic Background and Training

Verna Fields, born Verna Hellman, developed an early interest in writing and media, influenced by her father, screenwriter Sam Hellman, whose credits included films like Little Miss Marker (1934) and (1939). This familial connection to Hollywood encouraged her pursuit of a career in media, leading her to relocate to with family support. Fields pursued formal education at the (USC), where she earned a B.A. in in the late 1930s. Her journalism training provided foundational skills in storytelling and communication, which later informed her technical work in and sound. Prior to USC, she attended the Collège Féminin de Bouffemont, a in , broadening her exposure to international perspectives on media and culture. In the 1940s, Fields gained practical training through an apprenticeship under director , beginning with his 1944 film noir The Woman in the Window. Hired initially without prior experience, she assisted as a sound editor apprentice, learning the fundamentals of sound mixing, editing techniques, and workflows over four years, which ultimately secured her union card.

Sound Editing Career

Entry into Sound Work

Verna Fields entered professional sound editing in 1956, following uncredited assistant editing roles on Hollywood films in the and early television production work in the mid-1950s. Her initial sound credits included Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps, marking her transition to this technical field after years of supporting roles in a rapidly evolving post-war industry. This shift was motivated in part by the need to provide for her two young sons following the death of her husband, Sam Fields, in 1954, which compelled her to seek stable employment in Hollywood's production ecosystem. After assistant editing on television series such as The Whistler (1954–55) and The Lone Ranger (1954–57), Fields' sound work included Death Valley Days (1956–1959), where she honed practical techniques for sound synchronization, including aligning dialogue loops and effects with picture to ensure seamless playback on limited budgets. These roles demanded meticulous attention to audio timing amid the era's analog equipment constraints, such as Moviola machines and optical soundtracks, allowing her to build expertise in creating immersive auditory experiences for broadcast. Her foundational training at the University of Southern California, where she earned a B.A. in journalism, provided a narrative sensibility that informed her approach to sound as a storytelling element, bridging her earlier journalistic pursuits with technical precision. As one of few women entering sound editing during the , Fields navigated a male-dominated domain where technical departments were overwhelmingly staffed by men, often facing barriers to advancement and recognition in an industry consolidating under studio hierarchies. Widowed and raising children alone, she persisted through long hours and low visibility, embodying the resilience required for women in Hollywood's behind-the-scenes crafts at a time when such roles were seen as extensions of secretarial work rather than creative professions. This period laid the groundwork for her reputation as a collaborative problem-solver in .

Key Sound Editing Projects

Verna Fields established her reputation in sound editing through extensive work on television series during the and , including multiple episodes of , where she handled sound effects and editing to enhance the Western genre's atmospheric storytelling. Her contributions to this long-running anthology series, spanning from 1956 to 1959 across 71 episodes, demonstrated her skill in creating immersive audio landscapes for episodic narratives. In feature films, Fields' sound editing on (1961), directed by , marked a significant achievement, earning her the 1962 Golden Reel Award from the for outstanding sound effects work. This epic required meticulous layering of battle sounds, dialogue, and ambient effects to support its grand scale, showcasing her expertise in synchronizing audio with expansive visual sequences. Fields' collaboration with emerging director on Targets (1968) featured her blending effects with the film's innovative narrative contrasting horror tropes and real-world violence. By adding layered to sequences filmed without live audio, such as the sniper's rampage, she amplified tension and thematic depth, influencing the integration of sound in low-budget thrillers. Throughout her sound editing career, Fields amassed 19 credits, with a particular focus on expertly layering , effects, and to support character-driven stories and genre conventions. This body of work, built on her early in , underscored her transition toward more holistic film editing roles by the late .

Transition to Film Editing

Initial Film Editing Roles

Verna Fields transitioned from sound editing to picture editing in 1960, debuting as a film editor on Irving Lerner's Studs Lonigan, a low-budget adaptation of James T. Farrell's novel. Drawing on her prior experience with soundtracks, Fields adapted her expertise in timing and rhythm to visual pacing, focusing on seamless cuts that enhanced the film's dramatic tension and narrative flow. This shift marked her initial foray into visual storytelling, where she alternated between sound and picture roles for several years before committing more fully to editing. By the early 1970s, Fields had established herself with collaborations alongside emerging director . She edited the zany What's Up, Doc? (1972), employing her rhythmic cutting techniques—honed from sound work—to master comedic timing in chaotic chase sequences and rapid-fire dialogue exchanges. The following year, she tackled Paper Moon (1973), Bogdanovich's Depression-era road comedy, where her precise edits amplified the film's witty interplay between leads and , creating a brisk pace that underscored themes of deception and survival. These projects showcased Fields' ability to infuse visual rhythm with emotional subtlety, as she noted that editing should "create emotion with the least awareness of technique." Throughout the and , Fields navigated significant challenges as one of few women in Hollywood's editing rooms, where industry biases often limited opportunities and recognition for female cutters. Despite reluctance from studios—such as Universal's initial hesitation on projects due to gender stereotypes—her sound background provided a unique bridge, allowing her to demonstrate value in a male-dominated craft without direct competition from male peers. Fields' persistence in these early roles laid the groundwork for her later breakthroughs, proving that her innovative approaches to pacing could transcend traditional barriers.

Teaching and Mentorship at USC

Verna Fields joined the faculty of the in the mid-1960s, where she taught film editing to aspiring filmmakers. Her return to academia followed years of professional experience in sound and film editing, allowing her to impart practical insights drawn from her own career. Students affectionately nicknamed her "Mother Cutter" for her nurturing yet authoritative approach to instruction, which emphasized supportive guidance in mastering editing techniques. This moniker reflected her maternal style in fostering creativity while instilling discipline, helping students navigate the technical and artistic challenges of . Fields mentored a notable cohort of emerging directors, including and , by teaching hands-on workflows that bridged theoretical concepts with real-world application. She provided personalized feedback on projects, encouraging them to refine their visions through iterative cuts and revisions. In her classes, Fields contributed to the curriculum by highlighting the integration of sound and picture, leveraging her expertise as a former sound editor to demonstrate how audio elements enhance visual storytelling. This focus equipped students with skills to synchronize dialogue, effects, and music seamlessly, a critical aspect of narrative pacing and emotional impact in film.

Major Film Editing Collaborations

American Graffiti with George Lucas

Verna Fields' involvement in American Graffiti (1973) marked a pivotal moment in her transition from sound editing to picture editing, where she co-edited the film alongside Marcia Lucas, George Lucas's wife. Fields, who had mentored Lucas during her time teaching at the University of Southern California (USC), brought her expertise to the project, helping to shape the film's multi-threaded narrative of teenage life in early 1960s Modesto, California. Their collaboration stemmed from Fields' earlier guidance of Lucas at USC, where she had introduced him to professional editing environments, fostering a professional relationship that extended to this feature. As a condition of Universal Pictures' financing, the studio required Lucas to include an experienced editor on the team, leading to Fields' addition despite Lucas's initial preference for his wife to handle the work alone. Throughout production, Lucas edited daily with Fields and in a modest setup, refining the footage between shooting periods to capture the film's episodic, cruising culture. This dynamic allowed Fields to contribute significantly to the assembly cut, drawing on her prior stylistic foundations from editing Peter Bogdanovich's films like What's Up, Doc? (1972). The process involved navigating Lucas's original linear script structure, ultimately interweaving the parallel storylines of the protagonists to create a more dynamic flow. Fields and employed techniques to pace the multi-threaded teen narratives, syncing transitions to the nostalgic rock 'n' roll and building rhythmic energy that evoked the era's carefree yet poignant youth. This approach heightened the film's emotional resonance, intertwining vignettes of romance, mischief, and uncertainty to sustain momentum across the single-night timeline. Their innovative editing earned an for Best Film Editing at the in 1974, recognizing the breakthrough contributions that propelled into the movement.

Jaws with Steven Spielberg

Verna Fields served as the lead film editor for Jaws (1975), directed by , where she played a crucial role in transforming the production's challenges into a tightly paced thriller. Drawing on her extensive experience, Fields trimmed the film's initial assembly to heighten suspense and urgency, ensuring the narrative's momentum propelled audiences through the escalating shark threat. Her work began on location in during the film's extended shoot, where she edited the first two-thirds of the picture, collaborating closely with Spielberg to align the visuals with his vision of terror. This partnership extended to reshoots, including Ben Gardner boat scene, which was filmed in the at Fields' home to address pacing issues after wrapped. Spielberg later reflected on this , noting how Fields' pool became an set to salvage key moments that amplified the film's dread. Fields' innovative editing techniques amplified the shark attacks by minimizing direct views of the malfunctioning mechanical shark, instead relying on point-of-view shots from underwater, rapid cuts to thrashing water, and actors' terrified reactions to build invisible menace. She deftly cut around the shark's technical flaws, using quick intercuts between surface panic and submerged pursuit to create rhythmic tension that mimicked the predator's unpredictability. Her background in sound editing profoundly influenced these choices, as she integrated audio cues—like the ominous John Williams score and amplified splashes—with visual rhythms, ensuring cuts enhanced the auditory dread rather than overpowering it. This approach not only concealed production limitations but also drew from her prior Oscar-nominated work on American Graffiti (1973), adapting ensemble pacing strategies to thriller suspense. By focusing on suggestion over revelation, Fields made the unseen shark far more terrifying, a technique that has been analyzed for decades in film studies. For her efforts on Jaws, Fields won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing at the in 1976, as well as the American Cinema Editors (ACE) , recognizing her as a pivotal force in the film's success as the first summer blockbuster. This acclaim solidified her nickname "Mother Cutter," affectionately bestowed by Spielberg and other young directors for her nurturing guidance and technical mastery during the project's chaos. Fields' on-set and editorial support earned particular praise from Spielberg, who credited her intuitive enhancements—turning his three descriptive adjectives for a scene into four—as key to realizing the film's emotional core. Her work on Jaws remains a benchmark for editing, demonstrating how can rescue and elevate a troubled production.

Executive Role at Universal Studios

Appointment as Vice President

Following the success of Jaws and her Academy Award for Best Film Editing, Verna Fields was appointed in 1976 as for Feature Production at Universal Studios, becoming one of the first women to hold an upper-level executive position at a major Hollywood studio. In this pioneering role, Fields oversaw the editing, sound mixing, and overall processes for numerous feature films at the studio, drawing on her decades of hands-on experience to streamline workflows and ensure high-quality final products. Fields actively advocated for increased opportunities for women in technical film roles during her tenure, using her influence to promote diverse hiring practices that encouraged the advancement of female editors, sound technicians, and specialists within Universal's operations. She held the position until 1982, managing to balance her executive duties with selective involvement in editing projects amid her growing administrative responsibilities.

Contributions to Studio

During her tenure as for Feature Production at Universal Studios from 1976 to 1982, Verna Fields played a pivotal role in overseeing the studio's film output, acting as a key liaison between creative teams and studio leadership to ensure efficient project advancement. She advocated for directors facing production hurdles, including oversight of sequels like . Fields extended her beyond academia into studio operations, promoting junior editors and emerging talent at Universal by fostering a supportive environment often referred to as her "mother cutter" style. She applied lessons from her USC teaching experience—where she had guided future filmmakers like and —to mentor diverse voices in roles, helping to integrate fresh perspectives into the studio's workflow. Her efforts emphasized collaborative efficiencies that aligned with the era's shift toward innovative, cost-effective filmmaking, building on the successes of American Graffiti and Jaws to modernize Universal's production pipelines. As a trailblazing female executive in the late , Fields navigated significant challenges in a male-dominated industry, including institutional biases that limited women's access to high-level . Despite her proven track record, she encountered barriers such as the "Eastwood Rule," which prevented her from directing because she was already involved in the production. Her persistence not only advanced Universal's operational standards but also paved the way for greater gender diversity in studio management.

Later Years, Death, and Legacy

Final Projects and Pre-Death Honors

Following the pinnacle of her editing career with Jaws, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 1976, Verna Fields assumed an executive position at Universal Studios as Vice President for Feature Production. In this groundbreaking role—one of the first for a woman in upper-level Hollywood management—she served as a vital liaison between studio executives and directors, ensuring creative needs were met during production and facilitating the development of major films through the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fields had taught film editing at the since the mid-1960s, where she influenced generations of filmmakers. Her executive oversight contributed to Universal's output during a transformative era for the studio, though she stepped back from hands-on editing to focus on broader industry leadership. In recognition of her trailblazing career and enduring impact on , Fields received the Crystal Award in 1981, honoring outstanding women whose excellence and perseverance advanced opportunities in the entertainment field. This accolade underscored her multifaceted contributions as an editor, educator, and executive prior to her passing.

Death and Posthumous Recognition

Verna Fields died on November 30, 1982, at the age of 64 from cancer at Encino Hospital in Encino, . She was cremated following her death, with her ashes given to family members. Industry peers, including close collaborators and , paid immediate tributes to her profound influence, with Spielberg later recalling her as a "very wise woman and a very good editor" who earned the affectionate nickname "Mother Cutter" for her nurturing guidance on films like Jaws. In recognition of her contributions to sound editing, the (MPSE) established the Verna Fields Award in her honor, an annual honor first presented in 2006 for outstanding achievement in sound editing in student films. This award continues to celebrate emerging talent in the field she helped pioneer. Additionally, the Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship was established at the to support women film students. Fields' legacy as a trailblazing in film editing was further honored in 2017 with her posthumous induction into the Online Film & Television Association (OFTA) Hall of Fame in the Support category for editing. Known enduringly as "Mother Cutter," she is remembered for mentoring a generation of filmmakers and breaking barriers for women in Hollywood, with recent reflections underscoring her impact, such as a 2023 article in The Daily Jaws commemorating her role in shaping modern blockbusters.

Filmography

Selected Editing Credits

Verna Fields' selected editing credits demonstrate her evolution from sound editing to acclaimed picture editing on key films, where her technical precision and narrative insight shone through.
  • Studs Lonigan (1960): Fields made her feature film editing debut on this adaptation of James T. Farrell's novel, directed by Irving Lerner, marking her transition into picture editing after years in sound work.
  • What's Up, Doc? (1972): Editing Peter Bogdanovich's screwball comedy homage, Fields crafted the film's rapid-fire pacing and comedic timing, contributing to its box office success.
  • Paper Moon (1973): For Bogdanovich's black-and-white Depression-era con artist tale, Fields' editing enhanced the rhythmic interplay between leads Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, earning praise for its seamless storytelling.
  • American Graffiti (1973): Co-editing with Marcia Lucas under George Lucas, Fields helped shape the film's nostalgic, multi-threaded narrative of 1960s youth, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing.
  • Jaws (1975): Fields' editing on Steven Spielberg's thriller masterfully built suspense through rhythmic cuts and suggestion over spectacle, securing her the Academy Award for Best Film Editing and an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award.

Sound Editing Credits

Verna Fields entered the field of sound editing in the mid-1950s after a period as an assistant film editor, prompted by the death of her husband in 1954. She specialized in sound effects and dialogue editing, contributing to the auditory depth of both television and feature films during an era when was evolving to enhance narrative immersion. Over her career, Fields accumulated 19 sound editing credits, many overlapping with her emerging work in picture editing, particularly in independent and low-budget productions where she handled multiple roles. Her initial forays into sound editing focused on television, where she provided sound effects for popular Western and adventure series. Fields worked on over 70 episodes of from 1956 to 1959, crafting realistic audio landscapes for historical dramas set in the . She also contributed to children's programs like (1956–1959) and Fury (late 1950s), emphasizing clear dialogue and dynamic effects to engage young audiences. These television assignments honed her skills in efficient sound synchronization, allowing her to innovate within tight budgets by layering ambient noises and foley to heighten dramatic tension. Fields extended her sound editing to feature films starting in the late 1950s, often collaborating with notable directors on projects that demanded innovative audio techniques for epic scale or psychological intensity. Her work on El Cid (1961), an Anthony Mann epic, earned her the 1962 Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award for outstanding sound editing, where she meticulously balanced orchestral scores, battle effects, and multilingual dialogue to support the film's grand historical narrative. Subsequent credits included atmospheric sound design for thrillers and dramas, such as the eerie, tension-building effects in Peter Bogdanovich's Targets (1968), which contrasted urban violence with suburban tranquility through precise dialogue cuts and ambient layering. By the early 1970s, her sound contributions tapered as picture editing dominated her portfolio, but she continued selectively, including sound effects supervision on Pickup on 101 (1972), a road movie requiring seamless integration of vehicular and chase audio. The following table highlights selected key sound editing credits, illustrating her progression from television to film and her focus on effects and dialogue:
YearTitleRole/Notes
1956–1959Death Valley Days (TV series)Sound effects editor; contributed to 71 episodes, emphasizing frontier ambiance and clarity.
1956While the City SleepsSound editor; early credit under , focusing on urban noir effects.
1958SnowfireSound editor; handled equestrian and wilderness for family Western.
1956–1959Sky King (TV series)Sound editor; created adventurous audio for aviation-themed episodes.
Late 1950sFury (TV series)Sound editor; specialized in animal and action synchronization.
1961El CidSound editor; Golden Reel Award winner for epic battle and integration.
1963The BalconySound editing; enhanced surreal theatrical effects in Ben Maddow's adaptation.
1963A Face in the RainSound editing; crafted rain and tension-building sounds for Irvin Kershner's noir.
1968TargetsSound editor; innovative contrast of gunshots and everyday noises for .
1972Pickup on 101Sound effects editor; dynamic road and pursuit audio for .
These selections represent her most impactful sound work, with the remaining credits spanning similar television episodes and minor film contributions through the , often in overlap with her editing duties to streamline production.

References

  1. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/61619%257C150516/Verna-Fields
  2. https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-film-editor-verna-fields-jaws-20190709-htmlstory.html
  3. https://womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu/fields-verna/
  4. https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/3235
  5. https://womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu/assets/pdfs/FIELDS_Mother_Cutter_Meuel.pdf
  6. http://womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/FIELDS_Gerald_Peary.pdf
  7. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276368/
  8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145210114/verna-fields
  9. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/03/obituaries/verna-fields-64-film-editor-who-won-an-oscar-for-jaws.html
  10. http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ei-Gi/Fields-Verna.html
  11. https://cinemontage.org/early-womans-place-cutting-room/
  12. https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/mother-cutter-remembering-oscar-winning-jaws-editor-verna-fields
  13. https://www.thebeardedtrio.com/2015/03/verna-fields-powertalent.html
  14. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063671/fullcredits/
  15. https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/5-editors-that-broke-the-hollywood-studio-system/
  16. http://www.dkaarchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/A-Tribute-to-Verna-Fields-04-01-1979.pdf
  17. https://maureenorth.com/1974/10/mother-cutter-verna-fields/
  18. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/martin-scorsese-jason-reitman-reveal-664559/
  19. https://raindance.org/female-editors/
  20. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/american-graffiti-making-george-lucas-film-1130166/
  21. https://www.lucasfilm.com/news/our-first-movie-lucasfilm-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-american-graffiti/
  22. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974
  23. https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/jaws-filmmaking-101/
  24. https://www.npr.org/2025/09/15/nx-s1-5494607/steven-spielberg-interview-jaws-museum-exhibit
  25. https://bethcollier.substack.com/p/the-mother-cutter-who-helped-save
  26. https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/649-jaws-and-the-sound-of-dread-and-wonder/
  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EldZrNYPnk
  28. https://womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu/tag/vice-president-for-feature-production-at-universal-studio/
  29. https://editshare.com/post/10-women-editors-who-define-moviemaking/
  30. https://womeninfilm.org/updates/wif-awards-retrospective/
  31. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276368/bio/
  32. https://www.mpse.org/Verna-Fields-Student-Award
  33. https://www.oftaawards.com/film-hall-of-fame/film-hall-of-fame-support/
  34. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/fields-verna-1918-1982
  35. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1976
  36. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/61619%7C150516/Verna-Fields
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