Elmo Williams, editor and producer, Died at 102

  Centenarian

James Elmo Williams was born on April 30, 1913, and died on November 25, 2015.

He was an American film and television editor, producer, director and executive. His work on the film High Noon (1952) received the Academy Award for Film Editing.

In 2006, James published Elmo Williams: A Hollywood Memoir.

Among the films that Williams edited are High Noon (1952), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and The Vikings (1958).

James was involved in the production of The Longest Day (1962) and Cleopatra (1963), and he was a producer of the film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970).

Between 1971 and 1974 James was the Head of Production for 20th Century Fox.

James edited the film Design for Death (1947), which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

James won the Academy Award for Film Editing for his work on 1952’s High Noon (directed by Fred Zinneman and co-edited with Harry Gerstad), and was nominated again for 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (directed by Richard Fleischer).

In 1940, James married Lorraine Williams, who died in 2004.

They adopted two daughters and a son. The couple retired to Brookings, Oregon, on the Oregon Coast in 1983.

In December 2008, James donated a public chapel to the city in memory of his wife.

The chapel is located in Azalea Park in Brookings.

James brother Burch Williams was killed in a mid-air collision between an Alouette helicopter owned by Lynn Garrison and an SE5 over Wicklow, Ireland, on August 18, 1970, during filming of Owen Crump’s production Zeppelin.

James Williams continued to be active in community theater.

A two-act play, he authored concerning the humorous effects of aging called The Corner Pocket was performed at the Chetco Playhouse in Brookings, Oregon, in October 2010. He turned 100 in April 2013.

Elmo Williams passed away at his home in Brookings on November 25, 2015, at the age of 102.