Jon Gregory

Born on May 21, 1944 in Lahore, Pakistan, Jon Gregory  moved with his family first to Bangalore, India, and then to England, where he attended Reigate School in Surrey. “Cinema was the only thing that interested me, so I didn’t pay much attention to school,” he confessed. “I’ve always prioritized the big screen, which is pretty irresponsible.

He began his career in the BBC’s stage department, but soon realized he wanted to become an editor. Jon Gregory then   worked with director Mike Leigh for more than 30 years, starting with Great Ambitions (1988) and on other films like Naked. Defenseless  (1993), the Palme d’Or winner Secrets and Lies (1996), Another Year (2010), Mr. Turner (2014) and The Peterloo Tragedy (2018).

“Of course, the director always has the last word, but by collaborating with  Jon Gregory  , a true artist in his own right, and trusting his vision, revealed qualities in the material that you might not otherwise have known if you were there” , Mike Leigh has declared upon learning of the death. “Jon might say to me, ‘It’s Thursday; leave me to that, and don’t come back until Tuesday.’ He’d duly introduce me on Tuesday and he’d say, ‘Look, I’ve totally cut this sequence, but if you don’t like what I’ve done, I can just leave it as it was. “And with rare exceptions, the radical new version of Jon would be a total revelation.”

Divorced from Beryl Ridley, with whom he had two children, Amanda and Claire,  Jon Gregory  was united with Sue, who accompanied him until his death.

Gregory also collaborated with director Mike Newell on An Unusual Adventure (1995), Donnie Brasco (1997), Pushing Tin (1999) and Four Weddings and a Funeral , the best known. With Martin McDonagh , she worked on In Bruges (2008) and Three Billboards (2017), for which she received an Oscar nomination.