British music editor Dina Eaton, who worked on five James Bond movies, has died following complications from surgery at a hospital in England. She was 70.
Eaton worked on more than 50 films over the course of her career, which included a decade-long stint at Eon Productions, which produces the 007 movies. Between 1998 and 2008, Eaton collaborated with composer David Arnold on Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace (2008), all of which hailed from different directors.
After working with Michael Apted on The World Is Not Enough, she did three other films with the director —Enough (2002), Amazing Grace (2006), and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). She also worked on films from esteemed directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci (The Sheltering Sky), Michael Cimino (The Sunchaser), Roland Emmerich (Godzilla), Greg Mottola (Paul), John Singleton (Shaft), and Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz).
Eaton started out in the British film industry in the ’70s and graduated to First Assistant Editor on Blake Edwards’ Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) before pivoting to the music side of editing. She assisted Music Editor Michael Clifford on Jim Henson’s The Great Muppet Caper (1981), which led to her first Music Editor gig under composer Trevor Jones on The Dark Crystal (1982), which Henson co-directed with Frank Oz.
In 2009, Eaton received the Panalux Craft Award from Women in Film, noting in her acceptance speech that “there can’t be that many women who have had the James Bond theme playing as they go up to get an award.”
Eaton had survived two bouts with cancer and retired shortly after her longtime husband, British director Michael Tuchner, died in 2017, with The Mercy (2018) serving as her final feature.
