Aaron Stell

Aaron Stell
Aaron Stell
Born	March 26, 1911; Pennsylvania, United States
Died	January 7, 1996 (aged 84); Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Film editor

Aaron Stell (March 26, 1911 – January 7, 1996) was an American film editor with one hundred feature film credits and many additional credits for his television work. He is best known for his work on Touch of Evil (directed by Orson Welles-1958), To Kill a Mockingbird (directed by Robert Mulligan-1962), and Silent Running (directed by Douglas Trumbull-1972).^[1]^[2]^[3]

Early life

Aaron Stell was born on March 26, 1911. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, he worked as a postmaster for Fox Film in the late 1920s.^[4]

Career

Stell's earliest editing career was for Columbia Pictures, where he worked at from 1943 to 1955. He then worked for other Hollywood studios for the rest of his career. Touch of Evil, which was directed by Orson Welles, proved difficult for Stell; he was not the initial editor but instead chosen for re-editing, and he noted that Welles became "ill, depressed, and unhappy with the studio's impatience" in the process.^[5]

Stell had been selected as a member of the American Cinema Editors. He was nominated for the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He was also nominated for Eddies for his television work on an episode of Ben Casey (1961) and on the mini-series Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980). In 1996 he shared the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award with Desmond Marquette.

Personal life and death

Since the early 1940s, Stell worked as an oil painter. By 1964, he has painted over 50 paintings.^[6] Stell died in Los Angeles at age 84.^[7]

Selected filmography

Editor
Year	Film	Director	Notes	Other notes
1943	Cowboy in the Clouds	Benjamin H. Kline	First collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
1944	Cowboy Canteen	Lew Landers	First collaboration with Lew Landers
	Sundown Valley	Benjamin H. Kline	Second collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
	She's a Soldier Too	William Castle	First collaboration with William Castle
	Swing in the Saddle	Lew Landers	Second collaboration with Lew Landers
	Cowboy from Lonesome River	Benjamin H. Kline	Third collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
	Cyclone Prairie Rangers		Fourth collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
	Saddle Leather Law		Fifth collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
1945	I Love a Mystery	Henry Levin
	Sagebrush Heroes	Benjamin H. Kline	Sixth collaboration with Benjamin H. Kline
	Sing Me a Song of Texas	Vernon Keays	First collaboration with Vernon Keays
	Rough Ridin' Justice	Derwin Abrahams	First collaboration with Derwin Abrahams
	The Return of the Durango Kid	Derwin Abrahams	Second collaboration with Derwin Abrahams
	Boston Blackie's Rendezvous	Arthur Dreifuss	First collaboration with Arthur Dreifuss
	Rustlers of the Badlands	Derwin Abrahams	Third collaboration with Derwin Abrahams
	Outlaws of the Rockies	Ray Nazarro	First collaboration with Ray Nazarro
	Blazing the Western Trail	Vernon Keays	Second collaboration with Vernon Keays	Uncredited
	Prison Ship	Arthur Dreifuss	Second collaboration with Arthur Dreifuss
1946	Frontier Gunlaw	Derwin Abrahams	Fourth collaboration with Derwin Abrahams
	Blondie's Lucky Day	Abby Berlin	First collaboration with Abby Berlin
	It's Great to Be Young	Del Lord	First collaboration with Del Lord
	Blondie Knows Best	Abby Berlin	Second collaboration with Abby Berlin
	Terror Trail	Ray Nazarro	Second collaboration with Ray Nazarro
	Alias Mr. Twilight	John Sturges	First collaboration with John Sturges
	Singin' in the Corn	Del Lord	Second collaboration with Del Lord
1947	Millie's Daughter	Sidney Salkow	First collaboration with Sidney Salkow
	Bulldog Drummond at Bay	Sidney Salkow	Second collaboration with Sidney Salkow
	Sport of Kings	Robert Gordon
	The Son of Rusty	Lew Landers	Third collaboration with Lew Landers
	The Last Round-Up	John English	First collaboration with John English
1948	The Sign of the Ram	John Sturges	Second collaboration with John Sturges
	Song of Idaho	Ray Nazarro	Third collaboration with Ray Nazarro
	Jungle Jim	William Berke	First collaboration with William Berke
	Loaded Pistols	John English	Second collaboration with John English
1949	Riders of the Whistling Pines	John English	Third collaboration with John English
	The Lost Tribe	William Berke	Second collaboration with William Berke
	Rim of the Canyon	John English	Fourth collaboration with John English
1950	Blondie's Hero	Edward Bernds	First collaboration with Edward Bernds
	The Palomino	Ray Nazarro	Third collaboration with Ray Nazarro
	Beauty on Parade	Lew Landers	Fourth collaboration with Lew Landers
	Customs Agent	Seymour Friedman	First collaboration with Seymour Friedman
	On the Isle of Samoa	William Berke	Third collaboration with William Berke
	Rookie Fireman	Seymour Friedman	Second collaboration with Seymour Friedman
	Chain Gang	Lew Landers	Fifth collaboration with Lew Landers
	The Tougher They Come	Ray Nazarro	Fourth collaboration with Ray Nazarro
	Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard	Seymour Friedman	Third collaboration with Seymour Friedman
1951	Gasoline Alley	Edward Bernds	Second collaboration with Edward Bernds
	The Big Gusher	Lew Landers	Sixth collaboration with Lew Landers
	Chain of Circumstance	Will Jason
	The Barefoot Mailman	Earl McEvoy
1952	The Sniper	Edward Dmytryk	First collaboration with Edward Dmytryk
	A Yank in Indo-China	Wallace Grissell
	Brave Warrior	Spencer Gordon Bennet	First collaboration with Spencer Gordon Bennet
	Eight Iron Men	Edward Dmytryk	Second collaboration with Edward Dmytryk
1953	Jack McCall, Desperado	Sidney Salkow	Third collaboration with Sidney Salkow
	Ambush at Tomahawk Gap	Fred F. Sears	First collaboration with Fred F. Sears
	The Juggler	Edward Dmytryk	Third collaboration with Edward Dmytryk
1954	Massacre Canyon	Fred F. Sears	Second collaboration with Fred F. Sears
	The Outlaw Stallion	Fred F. Sears	Third collaboration with Fred F. Sears
	The Law vs. Billy the Kid	William Castle	Second collaboration with William Castle
	Human Desire	Fritz Lang
	The Black Dakotas	Ray Nazarro	Fifth collaboration with Ray Nazarro
1955	Creature with the Atom Brain	Edward L. Cahn
	Devil Goddess	Spencer Gordon Bennet	Second collaboration with Spencer Gordon Bennet
	Hell's Horizon	Tom Gries
1956	The Bold and the Brave	Lewis R. Foster
1956	5 Steps to Danger	Henry S. Kesler
1957	Fear Strikes Out	Robert Mulligan	First collaboration with Robert Mulligan
	Beginning of the End	Bert I. Gordon
	Time Limit	Karl Malden
1958	Touch of Evil	Orson Welles
	The Proud Rebel	Michael Curtiz
	Tarzan's Fight for Life	H. Bruce Humberstone
	Lonelyhearts	Vincent J. Donehue
1959	The Giant Gila Monster	Ray Kellogg	First collaboration with Ray Kellogg
1959	The Killer Shrews		Second collaboration with Ray Kellogg
1960	My Dog, Buddy		Third collaboration with Ray Kellogg
1960	Wake Me When It's Over	Mervyn LeRoy
1961	The Secret Ways	Phil Karlson
1962	Six Black Horses	Harry Keller
1962	To Kill a Mockingbird	Robert Mulligan	Second collaboration with Robert Mulligan
1963	Love with the Proper Stranger		Third collaboration with Robert Mulligan
1965	Baby the Rain Must Fall		Fourth collaboration with Robert Mulligan
1965	Inside Daisy Clover		Fifth collaboration with Robert Mulligan
1966	Not with My Wife, You Don't!	Norman Panama
1967	Welcome to Hard Times	Burt Kennedy	First collaboration with Burt Kennedy
1968	The Stalking Moon	Robert Mulligan	Sixth collaboration with Robert Mulligan
1969	Flareup	James Neilson
1970	The Grasshopper	Jerry Paris
1972	Silent Running	Douglas Trumbull
1972	The Trial of the Catonsville Nine	Gordon Davidson
1973	Your Three Minutes Are Up	Douglas Schwartz
1973	Willie Dynamite	Gilbert Moses
1974	The Take	Robert Hartford-Davis
1975	Lepke	Menahem Golan
	Cornbread, Earl and Me	Joseph Manduke
	The Four Deuces	William H. Bushnell
1976	The Killer Inside Me	Burt Kennedy	Second collaboration with Burt Kennedy
1986	Native Son	Jerrold Freeman

Director
Year	Film	Notes
1964	The Gallant One	Also writer and producer
2004	Remnants of Auric Healing

Shorts

Editor
Year	Film	Director
1948	Go Chase Yourself	Jules White
1952	Corny Casanovas
1952	He Cooked His Goose

TV movies

Editor
Year	Film	Director
1970	But I Don't Want to Get Married!	Jerry Paris
	Wild Women	Don Taylor
	Crowhaven Farm	Walter Grauman
1972	The Couple Takes a Wife	Jerry Paris
1973	Fade In	Jud Taylor
1975	The Trial of Chaplain Jensen	Robert Day
1975	Shell Game	Glenn Jordan
1976	One of My Wives Is Missing	Glenn Jordan
1977	Night Terror	E. W. Swackhamer
1977	The Amazing Howard Hughes	William A. Graham
1978	Deadman's Curve	Richard Compton
	Steel Cowboy	Harvey Laidman
	One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story	William A. Graham
1979	Can You Hear the Laughter? The Story of Freddie Prinze	Burt Brinckerhoff
1979	Orphan Train	William A. Graham
1980	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones
	Rage!
	My Kidnapper, My Love	Sam Wanamaker
1981	Isabel's Choice	Guy Green
1981	Incident at Crestridge	Jud Taylor
1982	A Question of Honor	Jud Taylor
1982	American Eagle	William A. Graham

TV pilots

Editor
Year	Film	Director
1965	My Island Family	Henry Koster
1977	The Displaced Person	Glenn Jordan

TV series

Editor
Year	Title	Notes
1954	Ford Theatre	4 episodes
1954	Father Knows Best	2 episodes
1954−55	The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin	6 episodes
1956	The People's Choice	3 episodes
1956	The Count of Monte Cristo	9 episodes
1957	The New Adventures of Charlie Chan	2 episodes
1959	Death Valley Days	2 episodes
1963	Ben Casey	1 episode
1970	The Most Deadly Game	1 episode
1977	The Amazing Howard Hughes	2 episodes
	The Amazing Spider-Man	1 episode
	Space Academy
1978	The Paper Chase
1980	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones	2 episodes
1985	Otherworld	1 episode

References

^ John Howard Reid (2005). Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties. Lulu.com. pp. 168–169. ISBN 978-1-4116-3524-1.
^ "BFI profile: Aaron Stell". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14.
^ Kermode, Mark (2014). Silent Running. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 59. ISBN 9781844578344. The finished sequence, which relies on Schikele's intelligently counterpoised score, is a masterclass in editing, with Aaron Stell moving deftly between detailed close-ups of the mechanical arms and intense shots of Dern's pained and sometimes terrified reaction ....
^ Wilk, Ralph (June 23, 1929). "A Little from "Lots"". The Film DAily. 48 (71): 10. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
^ Charles Higham (8 March 2004). The Films of Orson Welles. University of California Press. pp. 150–151. GGKEY:9FNTB9F9DXZ.
^ Wollner, Anthony A., ed. (Spring 1964). "Painter in Our Midst". American Cinemeditor. Vol. 14, no. 1. pp. 4–5.
^ "Aaron Stell Obituary". Los Angeles Times. January 9, 1996. Retrieved May 23, 2023.

External links

Aaron Stell at IMDb

[Reid2005-1] John Howard Reid (2005). Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties. Lulu.com. pp. 168–169. ISBN 978-1-4116-3524-1.

[2] "BFI profile: Aaron Stell". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14.

[3] Kermode, Mark (2014). Silent Running. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 59. ISBN 9781844578344. The finished sequence, which relies on Schikele's intelligently counterpoised score, is a masterclass in editing, with Aaron Stell moving deftly between detailed close-ups of the mechanical arms and intense shots of Dern's pained and sometimes terrified reaction ....

[4] Wilk, Ralph (June 23, 1929). "A Little from "Lots"". The Film DAily. 48 (71): 10. Retrieved September 20, 2025.

[Higham-5] Charles Higham (8 March 2004). The Films of Orson Welles. University of California Press. pp. 150–151. GGKEY:9FNTB9F9DXZ.

[6] Wollner, Anthony A., ed. (Spring 1964). "Painter in Our Midst". American Cinemeditor. Vol. 14, no. 1. pp. 4–5.

[7] "Aaron Stell Obituary". Los Angeles Times. January 9, 1996. Retrieved May 23, 2023.

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Authority control databases
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People	Deutsche Biographie
Other	Yale LUX

v t e American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award
1980s	Barbara McLean and Gene Milford (1988) Warren Low and Dorothy Spencer (1989)
1990s	Margaret Booth and Elmo Williams (1990) William H. Reynolds and Ralph E. Winters (1991) Harold F. Kress and Charles Nelson (1992) Rudi Fehr and Robert Swink (1993) Dede Allen and Gene Ruggiero (1994) David Bretherton and Anne V. Coates (1995) Desmond Marquette and Aaron Stell (1996) Fred W. Berger and Harry W. Gerstad (1997) Gerry Hambling and John Woodcock (1998) John Bloom and Arthur Schneider (1999)
2000s	Dann Cahn and Marjorie Fowler (2000) Stanley Frazen and Fredric Steinkamp (2001) Antony Gibbs and George Watters (2002) John F. Burnett and Tom Rolf (2003) Donn Cambern and John A. Martinelli (2004) David Blewitt and Jim Clark (2005) Edward M. Abroms and Terry Rawlings (2006) John Soh and Frank J. Urioste (2007) Millie Moore and Bud S. Smith (2008) Sidney Katz and Arthur Schmidt (2009)
2010s	Paul LaMastra and Neil Travis (2010) Michael Kahn and Michael Brown (2011) Joel Cox and Doug Ibold (2012) Richard Marks and Lawrence Silk (2013) Richard Halsey and Robert C. Jones (2014) Diane Adler and Gerald B. Greenberg (2015) Carol Littleton and Ted Rich (2016) Janet Ashikaga and Thelma Schoonmaker (2017) Mark Goldblatt and Leon Ortiz-Gil (2018) Craig McKay and Jerrold L. Ludwig (2019)
2020s	Alan Heim and Tina Hirsch (2020) Lynzee Klingman and Sidney Wolinsky (2021) Lillian Benson and Richard Chew (2022) Lynne Willingham and Don Zimmerman (2023) Kate Amend and Walter Murch (2024) Paul Hirsch and Maysie Hoy (2025)