Francoise Bonnot Dies: Oscar-Winning Editor & Costa-Gavras Regular Was 78
Francoise Bonnot, a film editor who won an Oscar for Z and a BAFTA Award for Missing among dozens of credits, died Saturday in Paris. She was 78.
The France native worked with a number of top directors during her nearly 50-year career, notably editing seven consecutive films by Costa-Gavras — from 1969’s Z to 1983’s Hanna K. She won a BAFTA Award for his 1982 film Missing. She also worked with such noted helmers as Jean-Jacques Annaud — on his 1976 debut feature Black and White in Color — Roman Polanski (The Tenant, 1976), Michael Cimino (1985’s Year of the Dragon and 1987’s The Sicilian) and four film for Julie Taymor: Titus (1999), Frida (2002), Across the Universe (2007) and The Tempest (2010).
Among her earliest editing credits during a career that would span nearly a half-century was 1962’s A Monkey in Winter for director Henri Verneuil. They also would work together on three other films that decade and eventually were married.
Bonnot was born on August 17, 1939 in Bois-Colombes, France, the daughter of noted French film editor Monique Bonnot, with whom she shared the film editor credit on A Monkey in Winter. The younger Bonnot began her career working for Jean-Pierre Melville on his 1959 film Two Men in Manhattan. Her many other credits included Mad City (1997), Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) and the 1984 spy spoof Top Secret! — from the directors of Airplane! and starring Val Kilmer.
She is survived by her son, Patrick Malakian, a film director; daughter Sophie Malakian; and grandchildren Lisa and Jules. A ceremony is set for Thursday at the Armenian Cathedrale of St Jean Baptiste in Paris. In lieu of flowers, her family requests a donation to O2&Cie, a French nonprofit group that helps COPD patients.
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