---
name: "William O. Cairncross"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/william-o-cairncross"
roles: ["Editor"]
born: "19 June 1940"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T15:58:40.499626+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# William O. Cairncross

Editor. Born 19 June 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Editor
- **Born:** 19 June 1940, Los Angeles, California, USA

## Biography

William O. Cairncross is an American television production manager, producer and editor. He was born on 19 June 1940 in Los Angeles, California.

He began his career as an editor on series including *The Patty Duke Show*, *Get Smart* and *Mission: Impossible*. He later moved into production management on *Mission: Impossible* and worked as associate producer or producer on *Barbary Coast*, *CHiPs*, *Logan's Run* and *The Fantastic Journey*.

Cairncross's most extensive producing credits were on *Quincy, M.E.*, where he served as associate producer, producer and supervising producer across 110 episodes from 1978 to 1983. He received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series in 1981 for the programme. His later work included post-production supervision on *Lexx*.

*Sources: imdb.com, televisionacademy.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Mission: Impossible* (1966), Fi1m 82, Editor — [page](https://film.one/tv/mission-impossible-1966.md)

## Also known for

- *CHiPs* (1977), Associate Producer
- *Quincy, M.E.* (1976), Producer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/william-o-cairncross