Sidney M. Katz

In his nearly hour-and-a-half interview, Sidney M. Katz (1918-2009) discusses his early life and his time in the Army during World War II as a filmmaker and editor. He recalls going to work for RKO, working as a splicer on Orson Welles' classic feature Citizen Kane, and starting his own editing company. He talks about his time working with Edward R. Murrow on his weekly See It Now series, and in particular, working on Murrow's special broadcast dealing with Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Hollywood Blacklist. Katz outlines his fruitful association with Herbert Brodkin, including editing his classic law series, The Defenders, starring E.G. Marshall and a young Robert Reed. He discusses editing footage of The Beatles for The Ed Sullivan Show and also editing several made-for-television movies and feature films including Teacher, Teacher, The Swimmer and Diary of a Mad Housewife. He concludes with his thoughts on being honored by ACE and offers advice to aspiring editors. Karen Herman conducted the interview in a joint venture with American Cinema Editors (ACE) on February 14, 2009 at Universal Studios in Universal City, CA.