Gene Fowler Jr.

A prolific editor and director for film and television, Gene Fowler Jr worked on over 100 movies and television programs. His efforts won him a Golden Globe, four Emmys and an Oscar. The son of a comparably prolific screenwriter, Fowler was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in New York City. Before moving to Southern California and enrolling at USC where he studied film editing at 20th Century Fox, Fowler earned third mate's papers at Knights Seamanship School. 1943's "The Ox-Bow Incident" starring Henry Fonda was the first feature he edited. That same year, Fowler edited his first Fritz Lang film, the political thriller "Hangmen Also Die." He later worked on other Lang films including 1944's "The Woman in the Window" and the 1956 film noir dramas "While the City Sleeps" and "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt." Fowler served as part of the U.S. Army Special Services in World War II. During his tenure he created "Seeds of Destiny" a film produced by the U.S. War Department for which he was awarded the 1946 Oscar for Best Short Documentary. While much of his work was in the field of editing, Fowler is probably best known for his directing efforts, including the cult films "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957) and "I Married a Monster From Outer Space"(1958), the former famous for introducing Michael Landon. He also directed and co-wrote the 1959 western "The Oregon Trail." His work as editor of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" earned him an Oscar nomination, and he won a Golden Globe for editing the documentary "Wall of Fire"(1970). Well respected throughout the industry, Fowler acted as president of the American Cinema Editors for two terms, from 1965 to 1966, and was given its Eddie award for outstanding film editing. His television career was also fruitful, earning him four Emmys for editing. Two of his Emmys were awarded for work on the CBS series "Rawhide" and "The Waltons," one was for the 1972 CBS crime drama TV movie "Truman Capote's 'The Glass House'" and one was for his work in the NBC detective drama miniseries "The Blue Knight" starring William Holden. Later in his career Fowler worked as a supervising editor on productions like CBS's 1976 docudrama "Helter Skelter"