Daniel Mandell

Thrice Oscar-winning editor Daniel Mandell started out in show business as one of "The Flying Mandells" with Ringling Brothers Circus. He then turned his acrobatic skills to performing on the vaudeville circuit. Following service with the Marines in World War I and subsequently taking part in the post-Armistice occupation, he joined a longtime friend in the editing department of MGM. For five years he plied his trade with Columbia (1924-29), before his career really took off after being hired by independent film maker Samuel Goldwyn (at RKO: 1930-1932 and 1941-1952; at United Artists: 1936-1940). Mandell quickly became Goldwyn's number one editor and was assigned the lion's share of prestige pictures: Dodsworth (1936), Dead End (1937), Wuthering Heights (1939) (his own personal favorite), The Westerner (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Guys and Dolls (1955). Mandell considered timing to be of paramount importance in his work and believed that his performing background had given him an vital insight into audience reaction. Mandell's other fruitful collaboration was with the director Billy Wilder, for whom he worked on five films, notably Witness for the Prosecution (1957), The Apartment (1960) and The Fortune Cookie (1966).