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Robert c. jones

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He devoted himself mainly to editing, but received an Oscar as a screenwriter. Robert C. Jones passed away on February 1, 2021, at the age of 84, at his Los Angeles residence, after several years of battle with Lewy Body Dementia. It was confirmed by his daughter, Leslie Jones, who is also an editor. “He was a kind and generous man, and a comedic genius. He really was the sweetest guy,” she has stated.

Born in Los Angeles on March 30, 1936, Robert Clifford Jones –his full name– was not the first of the family clan to edit movies, as his father, Harmon Jones , had already been nominated for an Academy Award for his work on The Invisible Barrier . After dropping out of college, young Robert went to work for 20th Century Fox, first as an assistant editing titles like The Long Hot Summer . “It was a magical job, which opened my eyes to appreciate what my father had done,” he declared.

For a few years,  Robert C. Jones served in the military, where he was responsible for editing training films and documentaries. “This time made me gain confidence in myself to dedicate myself to this job,” he recalled. He graduated in 1963, the year in which he collaborated with another distinguished editor, Gene Fowler, Jr. , in Angels Without Paradise and It ‘s a Mad, Mad, Mad World , for which he earned his first Oscar nomination. He would achieve this feat again with Guess Who’s Coming Tonight  and Esa tierra es mi tierra , and would ultimately win it as a screenwriter with the first script he wrote, The Return ., drama about the consequences of the Vietnam War, which starred Jane Fonda .

Robert C. Jones also wrote the screenplay for Welcome Mr. Chance . But the Writers Union decided to remove him from the credits, and only Jerzy Kosiński , author of the book on which the film was based, should appear. As a consequence, he became disenchanted with the screenwriting profession and preferred to continue as an editor.

Married to Sylvia Hirsch Jones, a psychology professor, the couple had two daughters, Hayley and the aforementioned Leslie Jones , who have followed in his footsteps in the world of cinema.

For the rest, he stood out as an editor in the musical, with titles like The Legend of the Nameless City and Man of La Mancha , in romantic titles like Love Story , and in comedies like Don’t scream at me because I don’t see you . He was at the service of the Spanish Antonio Banderas , in Locos en Alabama .

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