{{Short description|American film negative cutter (1956–2024)}} {{Infobox person | name = Mo Henry | image = Publicity_Photo_of_Mo_Henry.jpeg | caption = Publicity photo of Mo Henry | birth_name = Maureen Henry | birth_date = {{Birth date|1956|4|19}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://neptunesociety.com/obituaries/sherman-oaks-ca/maureen-henry-11630268 |title=Maureen Ann Henry |website=Neptune Society |access-date=April 16, 2024}}</ref> | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|1|14|1956|4|19}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Film negative cutter | years_active = 1975–2023 | children = 1 }}
'''Maureen Ann Henry''' (April 19, 1956 – January 14, 2024) was an American film negative cutter whose works included ''Jaws'', ''Apocalypse Now Redux'', ''L.A. Confidential'', and ''The Big Lebowski''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kelly|first=Ray|url=https://www.wellesnet.com/orson-welles-side-wind-gains-oscar-winning-editor-top-talent/|title=Orson Welles' 'The Other Side of the Wind' gains Oscar-winning editor, top talent|website=Wellesnet.com|date=November 8, 2017|accessdate=November 11, 2020}}</ref>
== Career == Henry was a fourth-generation descendant from a family of negative film cutters. During the 1920s, Henry's paternal aunt emigrated from Ireland where she first worked at Deluxe Laboratories, which was later acquired by 20th Century Fox. She passed on her knowledge of the trade to Henry's father Mike and his brothers.<ref>{{cite interview|url=https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/2020/03/13/negative-cutter-mo-henry/|title=Negative Cutter: Mo Henry|interviewer=Julian Antos|subject=Mo Henry|work=Chicago Film Society|date=March 13, 2020|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref> Mike Henry, who had served as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's chief negative cutter, would in turn teach his daughter.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Liebowitz|first=Ed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A14EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28|title=Taming the Bear|magazine=Los Angeles|volume=47|issue=10|page=28|date=October 2002|access-date=November 11, 2020|issn=1522-9149|via=Google Books}}</ref> After Mo had graduated from high school, Henry's father had heard that Universal Studios was looking for union negative cutters as none were available. He recommended his daughter for the job, and the first feature film she worked on was Steven Spielberg's blockbuster ''Jaws'' in 1975. She later worked at several television studios including Quinn Martin Productions on a number of episodic television shows throughout the 1970s, including ''The Waltons'', ''Eight Is Enough'', ''Cagney & Lacey'' and ''M*A*S*H''.<ref name="CineMontage">{{Cite web|last=Kaufman|first=Debra|title=Mo Henry: The Last of the Negative Cutters?|url=https://cinemontage.org/negative-cutters/|date=June 1, 2015|website=CineMontage|access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref>
By the 1980s, having always wanted to be an interior designer, Henry decided to become a real estate agent in Beverly Hills, California. "I loved houses and designs and thought real estate would put me in all these great houses," Henry stated.<ref name="CineMontage" /> She soon returned to Hollywood, only this time serving as a production assistant for a commercial production company. She worked her way up to production coordinator but had to quit when she became pregnant with her son. Eventually, her cousin invited her back to resume working at Universal Studios' negative cutting department.<ref name="CineMontage" /> Before long, she was contacted by fellow negative cutter Donah Bassett, in which she joined her firm D. Bassett & Associates.<ref name="CineMontage" /> In 1992, she became the owner of D. Bassett & Associates; from there, she began working more closely with filmmakers and getting more involved in the movies she was cutting.<ref>{{cite news|last=Marsh|first=Calum|url=https://variety.com/2019/artisans/production/negative-cutter-mo-henry-1203277245/|title=Negative Cutter Mo Henry's Analog Skills Are Yet in Demand in a Digital Age|work=Variety|date=July 26, 2019|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref>
In 2018, she was interviewed about her work on Orson Welles's final film, ''The Other Side of the Wind'', in the documentary short ''A Final Cut for Orson''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Review: A Final Cut for Orson|url=https://www.thegate.ca/film/036448/review-a-final-cut-for-orson/|work=TheGATE.ca|date=November 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ross|first=Alex|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-orson-welles-the-other-side-of-the-wind-was-rescued-from-oblivion|title=How Orson Welles's "The Other Side of the Wind" Was Rescued from Oblivion|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 26, 2018|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref>
== Death == Henry died of complications from liver failure in Los Angeles, on January 14, 2024, at the age of 67.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/mo-henry-dead-jaws-the-matrix-1235791148/|title=Mo Henry, Negative Cutter on 'Jaws,' 'The Matrix' and Hundreds of Other Films, Dies at 67|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Carolyn|last=Giardina|date=January 18, 2024|access-date=January 18, 2024}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0377948}} * [https://www.heuristicsinc.com/mo.html Mo Henry tribute page] * [https://archive.today/20130105103256/http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/mohenryfanclub/ Mo Henry Fan Club]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Mo}} Category:1956 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American women Category:21st-century American women Category:American film editors Category:American women film editors Category:Deaths from liver failure in the United States Category:Film people from Los Angeles