attends the 57th annual ACE Eddie Awards cocktail reception held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 18, 2007 in Beverly Hills, California.
In a plot twist probably too unlikely for Quentin Tarantino to contemplate using himself, his long-time editor Sally Menke has died at 56, with the cause thought to have been heat stroke.
The Oscar-nominated Menke was out hiking in the Hollywood Hills during this unprecedented hot spell. Her body was discovered in the early hours of Tuesday in Beachwood Canyon on the west side of Griffith Park. Officials believe that Menke, who had a history of seizures, died from hyperthermia after collapsing from the heat. It came on the hottest day ever recorded in Los Angeles since the National Weather Service starting keep records 133 years ago.
Her husband, Dean Parisot, said she was “truly proud of two things in her life – above all her family [and] her work.” In 2007, Tarantino described Menke as “hands down my number one collaborator.”
Born in 1953, Menke studied at NYU before editing documentaries for CBS. And though she got a start in the movies for the likes of Oliver Stone, her legacy will always be seen as working on every Tarantino film to date, from Reservoir Dogs in 1992 to 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. Menke was recognized by the Academy by being nominated for Inglourious as well as Pulp Fiction in 1995. She had two children, Lucas and Isabella. (via CNN)