Elliot Graham died Saturday in Los Angeles at 50, the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner said, removing from film production one of its most versatile editors. Graham’s career ranged from intimate biopics to tentpole franchises, and his death ends a body of work that included an Oscar nomination for Milk and a BAFTA award shared with Tom Cross for No Time to Die.
Graham first earned credit as an editor on the 2001 thriller The Last Minute, and over the next two decades moved between studio fare and prestige dramas. He handled additional editing on X2: X-Men United and later served as the film editor on Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. His resume includes Bill Paxton’s The Greatest Game Ever Played, 21, Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, and the James Bond finale No Time to Die, the last film to carry his editing credit.
He also collaborated again with Gus Van Sant after Milk on the romantic drama Restless, and produced as well as edited the 2018 FX series Trust. Milk, directed by Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, earned eight Oscar nominations and won for best actor and original screenplay; its producer Dan Jinks paid tribute on Facebook, writing the film “wouldn’t have come together in the way it did without [his] amazing work.”
Colleagues and collaborators will now carry forward projects without Graham’s editorial voice, and his passing highlights the abrupt end to a career that bridged mainstream blockbusters and critically acclaimed independent films. The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner provided the cause of death; no further details were included in the notice released with those findings.
Graham was born June 8, 1976 in Claremont, California. He leaves a catalogue of credits that industry members and audiences will continue to reference when discussing contemporary editing craft, from dramatic biopics to high-budget franchise pictures.
