John Carter obit

John Carter Dies: ‘Lean On Me’, ‘Barbershop’ Film Editor Was 95

 

He was not on the list.

John Carter, the pioneering African-American film editor whose credits spanned 1968’s Paper Lion and the original The Heartbreak Kid through Lean On Me, Barbershop and Madea’s Family Reunion, died August 13 at his home in White Plains, New York. He was 95.

Carter’s death was reported by his family in a notice in The New York Times. He was the first African-American editor to join the American Cinema Editors society.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Carter began his career with Paper Lion, the comedy-drama based on George Plimpton’s New Journalism classic chronicling the author’s first-person account of enduring a grueling Detroit Lions training camp. The film starred Alan Alda as a fictionalized Plimpton.

John was born in Newark, New Jersey to William and Marie Carter on September 22, 1922. He was the third of four children. His family moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1927. He was an athlete on the basketball, football and track teams at Asbury Park High School, and an avid swimmer during the summer months along the Jersey shore. He was a member of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Temple, where he acted in religious plays directed by his father. In 1943 he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served in Europe during WWII as a staff sergeant earning the Soldier's Medal of Valor, American Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, European African Middle Eastern Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.

After his honorable discharge in 1946 John trained at the New York Institute of Photography and the Brooklyn Institute of Motion Picture Production. Upon graduating, he went into an apprenticeship program at the Signal Corps Pictorial Center for film editing. During this time, he met the love of his life Carole at a dance in Harlem at the Hotel Theresa on the top floor in the Skyline Ballroom. They were married on August 22, 1954, in Idlewild, Michigan. They had 3 children, and 6 grandsons.

Prior to Paper Lion, Carter had worked for 12 years at CBS – the family says he was the first  African-American film editor employed by network television in New York – finishing his career there as supervising film editor for the award-winning documentary unit Eye On New York.

He rose to the ranks at CBS on the Ed Sullivan Show, becoming the first African-American film editor to be employed by network television in New York. F

He left CBS in 1968 to to form his own company John Carter Associates, Inc., with Paper Lion his first film.

In 1970, Carter was an editor on King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery To Memphis, an Oscar-nominated documentary about Martin Luther King Jr. that in 1999 was entered into the National Film Registry.

Milos Forman’s Taking Off followed a year later, earning Carter a BAFTA nomination, and in 1972 he worked on the first of two projects with director Elaine May (The Heartbreak Kid, and, in 1976, Mickey and Nickey).

He worked on a trio of John G. Avildsen films: The Formula in 1980, and, in 1989, Lean on Me and The Karate Kid Part III.

Other credits include Robert Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats, Friday, The Cemetery Club, Soul Food, Johnson Family Vacation, Madea’s Family Reunion, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Boomerang and, in 2006 his final credited film, 5up 2down.

Carter is survived by wife Carole, two daughters, a son and their children. A memorial service is set for Saturday, Aug. 25, in White Plains.

 

Filmography

 

Paper Lion (1968)

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)

Taking Off (1971)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972 film) (1972)

I Could Never Have Sex with Any Man Who Has So Little Regard for My Husband (1973)

Mikey and Nicky (1976)

Between the Lines (1977)

The Formula (1980)

Cold River (1982)

Zombie Island Massacre (1984)

Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984)

The Killing Floor (1985)

Moments Without Proper Names (1987)

Lean on Me (1989)

The Karate Kid Part III (1989)

The Five Heartbeats (1991)

Boomerang (1992)

The Cemetery Club (1993)

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)

Friday (1995)

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)

Set It Off (1996)

Soul Food (1997)

The Wood (1999)

3 Strikes (2000)

Men of Honor (2000)

Barbershop (2002)

Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

Madea's Family Reunion (2006)

Shortcut to Happiness (2007)