‘James Bond’ Film Editor John Grover Passes Away At 87; Worked On Six 007 Films

British film editor John Grover, whose career included work on six James Bond films and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died aged 87. Grover passed away on Monday at his home in Buckinghamshire, England, after a short illness, his son Tim told The Hollywood Reporter.

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John Grover’s ‘James Bond’ Legacy

Grover served as editor on For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). He also worked as an assembly editor on The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and Octopussy (1983).

A longtime vice chairman of the British Film Editors, Grover received the organisation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in April.

His wider filmography included The Wild Geese (1978), The Sea Wolves (1980), The Final Option (1982), Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce (1985), NBC’s 1984 miniseries The First Olympics and Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986), which he regarded as his favourite film.

John Grover And Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001’

Grover began his career as an uncredited assistant editor, working with Robert Wise on The Haunting (1963), David Lean on Doctor Zhivago (1965), John Frankenheimer on Grand Prix (1966), Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Herbert Ross on Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969).

Speaking at an editing conference in 2016, Grover gave a candid account of his time working with Kubrick, describing the director as a perfectionist.

“I spent six months of my life with that idiot,” Grover said, adding, “Although he was a supposedly good filmmaker, he was mad. He’d kill the artist by [saying] keep going again and again and again.”

Grover was equally forthright about his view of the celebrated science-fiction film.

“I think [2001 is] a load of rubbish; it’s the most boring, long, stretched-out [film]. I mean, OK, it was very clever [with its] use of original music, which we had to get back from Germany, ‘The Blue Danube’ and all that. It’s very ahead of its time; what we were doing in imagination actually happened, and the space stations are now up there,” he said.

The Famous Heavy Breathing In ‘2001’

One of 2001: A Space Odyssey’s memorable sound elements was the heavy breathing heard during scenes involving astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole.

Michael Benson’s 2018 book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece stated that Grover accompanied editorial assistant David de Wilde to record Kubrick, who was suffering from a head cold.

Grover, however, said he was responsible for the breathing performance.

“All I did was breathing for six months,” he said, adding, “[Kubrick] wanted it done with the helmet… He’d sit right at the front … with a notebook, and you’d run the sequence, and he’d be writing, and he’d come back and say, ‘OK, John, very good, do it again.’ You had to watch [the film] pretending you were doing exercises and straining and moving things.”

A spokesperson for the British editors guild said: “Both Stanley K. and John Grover were recorded for the ‘heavy breathing’, and it is thought that the recording of John was the one used for the film.”

The breathing was recorded simultaneously on two rolls of 35mm film in 10-minute takes. This allowed Grover to cut between the recordings while removing ambient noise.

Grover’s Work On Classic Bond Sequences

Grover later worked on Moonraker as assembly editor alongside John Glen. The production generated around 800,000 feet of film, while the final cut took 10 months to complete and was finished a day before the premiere.

For The Spy Who Loved Me, Grover edited the pre-credit sequence featuring Roger Moore skiing down a mountain before parachuting from a cliff. Severe weather delayed the shoot by 10 days, with the stunt eventually filmed during a brief 15-minute break in the conditions.

Grover also brought a personal connection to the film. A music box he had received while working on Doctor Zhivago was incorporated into The Spy Who Loved Me. It played “Lara’s Theme” and was used by Barbara Bach’s character, Anya Amasova. Composer Maurice Jarre received royalties for the brief use of the leitmotif.

From MGM Studios To Hollywood’s Cutting Rooms

Born on October 24, 1938, in Barnet, Middlesex, England, Grover served in National Service as a teenager before joining MGM Studios as a numbering boy. He earned 6 pounds 10 shillings a week, while his uncle worked as the studio’s supervising editor.

Grover recalled David Lean as a filmmaker who could be opinionated while remaining open to collaboration.

“He’d say, ‘Get everybody in here, let’s have a look at this, what do you think?’ he recalled, adding, ‘He’d listen to you, provided you had an answer.”

He also remembered a technical failure at the 70mm Los Angeles premiere of Doctor Zhivago, when a gearbox in the projection booth exploded during the first reel changeover. The incident left the screen dark for eight minutes.

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‘The Living Daylights’ Leak

While working on The Living Daylights, Grover and Peter Davies co-edited Timothy Dalton’s first appearance as James Bond. A work print containing dialogue sequences was leaked and circulated on VHS, prompting producer Albert Broccoli and associate producer Tom Pevsner to question Grover.

“That was really frightening,” he remembered in 2018, adding, “Of course we were the No. 1 suspects; we were in the cutting rooms, we were the only one who had access to it.”

Grover said he had placed identifiable symbols on individual frames whenever sections of the film were sent out. The markings helped the production trace the leaked footage to a trailer company in New York.

John Grover’s Family And Bond Memories

Grover is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jenny; son Tim; daughter Camilla; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

After retiring, Grover spoke about the formula that shaped the Bond films.

“Bad language was unacceptable, but some violence and sexual innuendo was OK,” he said, adding, “Family entertainment was their motto. Grandparents could always take their grandchildren to see the films to enjoy them together.”

Roger Moore was Grover’s favourite Bond actor, while the car and circus-train chase in Octopussy was his favourite 007 sequence.

“For God’s sake, we got on those pictures, and for nine months I basically would never go home,” he said, adding, “So you had to have a good family behind you.”

(With inputs from ANI)