Neil Travis

Herbert Neil Travis (October 12, 1936 – March 28, 2012) was an American film and television editor with about 28 feature film credits from 1970–2007. He is best known for editing the television miniseries Roots (1977) and the feature film Dances with Wolves (1990).

Travis was born in Los Angeles, California, and received a bachelor's degree in film and theater arts from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Travis won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Film Editing In A Drama Series for the first part of the television miniseries Roots (1977), and he and James Heckert were nominated for the award for the second part as well. Travis won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing and the American Cinema Editors Eddie for the film Dances with Wolves (directed by Kevin Costner-1990). Travis had been selected as a member of the American Cinema Editors, and received the Career Achievement Award in 2010.

In 2010, Travis was interviewed about his career by Karen Herman for the Archive of American Television.

Filmography

TV movies

TV pilots

TV series

TV specials

Awards

Academy Awards 1991, USA

Primetime Emmy Awards 1977, USA

American Cinema Editors 2010, USA

Further reading

• Ohanian, Thomas A.; Phillips, Michael E. (2000). . Digital Filmmaking: The Changing Art and Craft of Making Motion Pictures. Focal Press. p.173. ISBN9780240804279. Interview with Travis about editing and the advent of digital filmmaking.
• Smithee, Alan. . Media Matters. Essay on the film that notes its editing.
• . The Los Angeles Times. April 7, 2012. from the original on April 13, 2012. Obituary.