Biography
Tom Priestley (1932–2023) was a British film editor whose career spanned from the early 1960s to 1990. He worked as editor or supervising editor on numerous feature films, including Deliverance (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Tess (1979) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984).
Born Thomas Holland Priestley in London, he was the son of novelist and playwright J. B. Priestley. He was educated at Bryanston School and King's College, Cambridge, where he read Classics and English. After starting at Shepperton Studios as an assistant sound editor, he became a full editor on Unearthly Stranger (1963) and later gained recognition for his work with directors such as Karel Reisz, Lindsay Anderson, John Boorman and Roman Polanski. He won a BAFTA for editing Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966) and received an Academy Award nomination for Deliverance.
In later years Priestley lectured on film editing and managed aspects of his father’s literary estate, serving as president of the J. B. Priestley Society.
