Peter R. Hunt

Peter R. Hunt (born Peter Roger Hunt 11 March 1925 – 14 August 2002) was an English film editor, director, and television producer. Hunt was known for his work on the James Bond films with his innovative editing style.

Born in London, England, Hunt had an uncle in the film industry who was able to find him work on some films, cutting as an assistant editor under Alexander Korda. He enlisted in the British Army at 17 with the goal of working with the British Army Film unit but became an infantryman landing at Salerno and fighting at Monte Cassino. Leaving the Army as a Staff Sergeant in 1947, he studied art at the University of Rome then returned to Britain where he found work as a clapper boy at Denham Studios.

Hunt was an assembling editor on The Man Who Watched Trains Go By in 1952 then began work as an editor on Stranger From Venus (1954).

He gained recognition for his film editing techniques when he utilised quick cutting, allowing camera swings during action and inserts interweaving other elements while working as editor on the first three Bonds.

Hunt then acted as second unit or action unit director until his directorial debut, the sixth James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

He also worked with Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli on the 1963 Bob Hope film Call Me Bwana, and with Saltzman and a few other Bond veterans on the non-EON thriller The IPCRESS File. Call Me Bwana is the only film produced by the James Bond production company Eon Productions that is not a Bond film. Hunt also directed some episodes of the 1971 British television series, The Persuaders!, which starred future James Bond Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.

On 14 August 2002, Hunt died of heart failure at his home in Santa Monica, California at the age of 77.

Director

• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
• Gold (1974)
• Shout at the Devil (1976)
• Gulliver's Travels (1977)
• The Beasts Are on the Streets, TV film (1978)
• Death Hunt (1981)
• The Last Days of Pompeii, TV mini-series (1984)
• Wild Geese II (1985)
• Assassination (1987)

Editor

• Stranger From Venus (1954)
• The Secret Tent (1956)
• Doublecross (1956)
• A Hill in Korea (1956)
• This Week (TV Series) (1956)
• The Admirable Crichton (1957)
• Next to No Time (1958)
• A Cry from the Streets (1958)
• Ferry to Hong Kong (1959)
• Sink the Bismarck! (1960)
• There Was a Crooked Man (1960)
• The Greengage Summer (1961)
• On the Fiddle (1961)
• H.M.S. Defiant (1962)
• Dr. No (1962)
• Call Me Bwana (1963)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• The Ipcress File (1965)
• Strange Portrait (1966)
• You Only Live Twice (Second unit director, supervising editor, 1967)
• Arthur! Arthur! (1969)
• The Persuaders! (TV Series) Episode: "Chain of Events" (1971)
• Night Games (1980)

• Maçek III, J.C. (7 October 2013). "From Heart of Darkness to All Out War: 'Shout at the Devil'". PopMatters.