{{Short description|British film and television editor (1945–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Lesley Walker | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|7|27|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Wimbledon, London]], England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|12|2|1945|7|27|df=yes}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Film and television editor | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]''<br>''[[Mamma Mia! (film)|Mamma Mia!]]'' }}
'''Lesley Walker''' (27 July 1945 – 2 December 2025) was a British film and television editor with more than 30 feature film credits. She came into prominence in the 1980s, when she "developed a fast and snappy editing style in the decade, with ''[[Letter to Brezhnev|A Letter to Brezhnev]]'' (1985), ''[[Mona Lisa (film)|Mona Lisa]]'' (1986), ''[[Cry Freedom]]'' (1987), and ''[[Shirley Valentine (film)|Shirley Valentine]]'' (1989)."<ref name=Harper>{{cite book |title=Women in British Cinema |last=Harper |first=Sue |publisher=Continuum International |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8264-4733-3 |page=231 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAGGFKeyXvsC&pg=PA231}}</ref> She worked extensively with directors [[Terry Gilliam]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Terry Gilliam |last=Marks |first=Peter |pages=138, 175, 205, 230 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7190-7032-7 }}</ref> and [[Richard Attenborough]].<ref>{{cite book |title=British film editors: the heart of the movie |chapter=Lesley Walker |last=Perkins |first=Roy |author2=Martin Stollery |pages=114–115 |year=2004 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |isbn=978-1-84457-007-2 |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1339729/index.html }}</ref>
Walker's work was honoured by nominations for the [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing]] (''Mona Lisa'' (1986) and ''Cry Freedom'' (1987)), for the [[Genie Award for Best Achievement in Editing]] (''[[Tideland (film)|Tideland]]'' (2005)), and the [[American Cinema Editors#Eddie Awards|American Cinema Editors Eddie Award]] (''[[Mamma Mia! (film)|Mamma Mia!]]'' (2008)).
Walker died on 2 December 2025, at the age of 80.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Giana |title=Lesley Walker, ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Mamma Mia!’ Film Editor, Dies at 80 |url=https://variety.com/2025/film/news/lesley-walker-dead-mamma-mia-1236604715/ |access-date=9 December 2025 |publisher=Variety |date=9 December 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilbey |first1=Ryan |title=Lesley Walker obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/19/lesley-walker-obituary |access-date=19 February 2026 |publisher=The Guardian |date=19 February 2026}}</ref>
==Feature films as editor== The director is indicated in parentheses. {{div col}} *''[[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1977 film)|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]'' ([[Joseph Strick|Strick]]-1977) *''[[The Tempest (1979 film)|The Tempest]]'' ([[Derek Jarman|Jarman]]-1979) *''[[Eagle's Wing]]'' ([[Anthony Harvey|Harvey]]-1979) *''[[Richard's Things]]'' (Harvey-1980) *''[[Letter to Brezhnev]]'' ([[Chris Bernard|Bernard]]-1985) *''[[Mona Lisa (film)|Mona Lisa]]'' ([[Neil Jordan|Jordan]]-1986) *''[[Winter Flight]]'' ([[Roy Battersby|Battersby]]-1986) *''[[Cry Freedom]]'' ([[Richard Attenborough|Attenborough]]-1987) *''[[Buster (film)|Buster]]'' ([[David Green (director)|Green]]-1988) *''[[Shirley Valentine (film)|Shirley Valentine]]'' ([[Lewis Gilbert|Gilbert]]-1989) *''[[Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming]]'' (1990) *''[[The Fisher King]]'' (Gilliam-1991) *''[[Waterland (film)|Waterland]]'' ([[Stephen Gyllenhaal|Gyllenhaal]]-1992) *''[[Shadowlands (1993 film)|Shadowlands]]'' (Attenborough-1993) *''[[Born Yesterday (1993 film)|Born Yesterday]]'' ([[Luis Mandoki|Mandoki]]-1993) *''[[Jack and Sarah]]'' ([[Tim Sullivan (British filmmaker)|Sullivan]]-1995) *''[[Emma (1996 theatrical film)|Emma]]'' ([[Douglas McGrath|McGrath]]-1996) *''[[In Love and War (1996 film)|In Love and War]]'' (Attenborough-1996) *''[[Mary Reilly (film)|Mary Reilly]]'' ([[Stephen Frears|Frears]]-1996) *''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)|Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' (Gilliam-1998) *''[[Grey Owl (film)|Grey Owl]]'' (Attenborough-1999) *''[[The Body (2001 film)|The Body]]'' ([[Jonas McCord|McCord]]-2001; with Alain Jakubowicz) *''[[Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film)|Nicholas Nickleby]]'' (McGrath-2002) *''[[All or Nothing (film)|All or Nothing]]'' ([[Mike Leigh|Leigh]]-2002) *''[[The Sleeping Dictionary]]'' ([[Guy Jenkin|Jenkin]]-2003) *''[[The Brothers Grimm (film)|The Brothers Grimm]]'' (Gilliam-2005) *''[[Tideland (film)|Tideland]]'' (Gilliam-2005) *''[[Closing the Ring]]'' (Attenborough-2007) *''[[Mamma Mia! (film)|Mamma Mia!]]'' ([[Phyllida Lloyd|Lloyd]]-2008) *''[[Will (2011 film)|Will]]'' ([[Ellen Perry|Perry]]-2011) *''[[I Am Nasrine]]'' ([[Tina Gharavi|Gharavi]]-2012; supervising editor with [[Lucia Zucchetti]]) *''[[Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism]]'' (Rowley-2015) *''[[The Man Who Killed Don Quixote]]'' ([[Terry Gilliam|Gilliam]]-2018) *''[[Military Wives (film)|Military Wives]]'' ([[Peter Cattaneo|Cattaneo]]-2019) {{div col end}}
==See also== * [[List of film director and editor collaborations]] (collaboration with Attenborough)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0907970}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Lesley}} [[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:2025 deaths]] [[Category:British film editors]] [[Category:British women film editors]]