Oscar-nominated film editor Robert Dalva passes away at 80

Robert Dalva the film editor who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on the family adventure The Black Stallion has died He collaborated with director Joe Johnston on five films including Jumanji and Captain America The First Avenger He was 80According to the Hollywood Reporter Dalva died on Jan 27 of lymphoma in Marin County CaliforniaBorn in New York on April 14 1942 Robert John Dalva booked movies for a film program while attending Colgate University He took a film class most Fridays at Syracuse University where he learnt how to run a cameraAfter he graduated from Colgate in 1964 he spent three years at USC where his classmates included Lucas John Milius Caleb Deschanel Walter Murch and Randal KleiserRight out of school he landed a job with future Oscarwinning film editor Verna Fields Jaws at the US Information AgencyDalva attended USC film school with George Lucas and went to work with him and Francis Ford Coppola in 1969 as the pair launched their innovative American Zoetrope production company in San FranciscoThe relationship paid off when Lucas hired Dalva to handle secondunit photography he shot the land speeder going across the desert on the original Star Wars 1977 reported Hollywood ReporterOn the Coppolaproduced Black Stallion 1979 starring Mickey Rooney in an Oscarnominated performance Dalva partnered with director Carroll Ballard who also did secondunit work on Star WarsWe had almost a million feet of film Dalva said in a 2012 interview A twohour movie is about 12000 feet And the island section of the movie which was about 37 minutes of the film represented threequarters of that million feet So the big battle was getting the island section down to a manageable length that made sense reported the Hollywood ReporterLater Dalva recalled he was walking down the street near Zoetrope when Francis pulled up in a taxicab and got out And he said Robert if theres a sequel to Black Stallion you want to direct it And I said Sure FrancisAlso ReadItalian film legend Gina Lollobrigida dies ministerThe Black Stallion Returns 1983 shot in Italy and Morocco marked the only feature Dalva directed He did helm episodes of Crime Story and Lucas Clone Wars for televisionIn addition to Jumanji 1995 and Captain America The First Avenger 2011 Dalva edited the Johnstondirected October Sky 1999 Jurassic Park III 2001 and Hidalgo 2004 Coincidentally Johnston worked on Star Wars too as an ILM representative for the films miniature and optical effects unitDalvas editing resume included Haskell Wexlers Latino 1985 Brian De Palmas Raising Cain 1992 Wayne Wangs The Joy Luck Club 1993 The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio 2005 Touching Home 2008 Immortals 2011 Lovelace 2014 Sweetwater 2015 and Heist 2015Dalva is survived by his wife Marcia whom he married in 1964 son Marshall daughter Jessica grandchildren Nathan Zach Luellen and Calvin and brother LeonThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever