Anne Bauchens

Who was Anne Bauchens?

Anne Bauchens was an American film editor who is particularly noted for her collaboration over 40 years with the director Cecil B. DeMille. When the Academy Award for Film Editing was created in 1934, Bauchens received one of the three nominations for her editing of Cleopatra. She later won the Academy Award for North West Mounted Police.

Bauchens was trained as an editor by DeMille, and shared her first credit with him on the film Carmen. Prior to 1918, DeMille had edited, as well as directed, his films. After Carmen and We Can't Have Everything, Bauchens no longer shared the editing credits with DeMille. She edited DeMille's films for the rest of their long careers, through the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Film editing again twice, for The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952 and for The Ten Commandments in 1956. In total, Bauchens' editing is credited on 41 films directed by DeMille, and on 20 films with other directors.

Despite her long career and her series of awards, the characterizations of Bauchens as an editor are not invariably flattering.