Mike Hill, Oscar-Winning Film Editor and Longtime Ron Howard Collaborator, Dies at 73 

Hill and Howard worked together on 22 consecutive features, including “Apollo 13,” for which the editor won the Academy Award

Mike Hill, longtime Ron Howard editor, dies

Film editor Mike Hill, an Oscar winner for 1996’s “Apollo 13” and prolific collaborator on Ron Howard feature films, has died due to complications from pneumonia.  He was 73.

Hill, who died Thursday at his home in Omaha, Nebraska, worked in tandem with Dan Hanley on nearly two dozen Ron Howard feature films, from 1982’s “Night Shift” to 2015’s “Heart of the Sea.”

Besides the Apollo 13 win, the duo of Hill and Hanley were nominated three times – for “A Beautiful Mind” (2002), “Cinderella Man” (2006) and “Frost/Nixon” (2009).

Howard praised Hill in a statement, describing “a remarkable and dedicated collaborator on our 22 movies but an even more valued friend” as someone who was “gifted and lauded” for his craft, yet “was even prouder of his family and the life they built together in Omaha.

“Mike was a highly intelligent and creative guy who lived his life with honesty, integrity and a great sense of irony and wicked humor,” Howard said, adding his friend “also had pretty good corner jump shot as I recall from our 3-on-3 basketball days.”

Born and raised in Omaha, Hill got his start at a local TV station working as an assistant editor placing commercials into feature films. Among the titles he added commercials to, as he later recalled, were Elia Kazan-directed “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “On the Waterfront.”

Kazan’s “The Last Tycoon” would later give Hill an apprentice editor role at Paramount, and he went on work with Howard on 22 blockbusters, including “Cocoon” and “The Da Vinci Code.”

A member of the AMPAS and ACE, Hill had garnered three BAFTA nods – winning for Rush in 2014 – and three ACE Eddie nominations.

A family spokesperson announced Hill’s death, adding the cause was cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.

Hill is survived by wife LeAnne, daughter Jesica and son-in-law Brandon.

Comments