Hubert de la Bouillerie, the veteran film editor whose credits ranged from Woodstock to Tango & Cash, died Aug. 8 in Los Angeles. His friend Robert Folk announced his death. De la Bouillerie was 75.
Across more than three decades in Hollywood, de la Bouillerie built a résumé that included editing work on The Witches of Eastwick, two Police Academy films and an array of other features. He also became a trusted figure behind the scenes at Warner Bros., where his responsibilities extended beyond the movies carrying his name in the credits.
According to Folk, longtime Warner Bros. studio chiefs Bob Daly and Terry Semel relied on de la Bouillerie to review the final edits of “the vast majority of features” emerging from the studio’s Burbank operation during the 1980s and ’90s.
From Woodstock to Warner Bros.
De la Bouillerie received an additional editing credit on Michael Wadleigh’s landmark 1970 documentary Woodstock. Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker were among the film’s other credited editors.
He later worked as an assistant editor on Norman Jewison’s Rollerball, released in 1975. His subsequent feature-editing credits included Krush Groove in 1985 and George Miller’s The Witches of Eastwick in 1987.
His Warner Bros. work also encompassed Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach in 1988, followed in 1989 by Police Academy 6: City Under Siege and the Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell film Tango & Cash.
De la Bouillerie reunited professionally with Jewison as editor of Other People’s Money in 1991. That same year, he edited Highlander II: The Quickening.
Additional credits over the following years included Mo’ Money in 1992, The Harvest in 1993, Blank Check in 1994 and Celtic Pride in 1996.
Directing, Writing and Photography
De la Bouillerie also moved into directing. He helmed the 1996 Showtime television film The Right to Remain Silent, which featured Lea Thompson and Amanda Plummer, and directed the science-fiction feature The Apocalypse in 1997.
In 2005, he directed an episode of ABC’s Boston Legal.
His creative work was not limited to film and television. De la Bouillerie wrote the 2012 gothic novel Of Love and Evil: The Birth and was also an accomplished photographer.
His Family and Early Life
Hubert Charles de la Bouillerie was born Jan. 28, 1951, the eldest child of Baron Henri de la Bouillerie and Elinor Marcus. His paternal family had longstanding connections to France’s Loire Valley and the Château de Villandry. He attended the French school École des Roches.
De la Bouillerie was married twice. His first wife was Hilary Saltzman, the daughter of James Bond film producer Harry Saltzman. He was also married to Hollywood Pictures executive and producer Debbie Robins de la Bouillerie. The couple were together from 1991 until her death in 2015 at age 58.
His survivors include his children, Jacqueline and Alexandre, and his siblings, Annie, Caroline, Juliette, Diane, Helie and Alban.
ShowBiz Take
De la Bouillerie’s credited filmography captures only part of his place in the entertainment industry. His work touched projects released across several decades, beginning with an additional editing credit on Woodstock and continuing through a sustained run of feature assignments in the 1980s and ’90s.
Just as significant was the confidence placed in him at Warner Bros. The account that Daly and Semel repeatedly turned to de la Bouillerie to review final edits shows the extent of his behind-the-scenes role during that period. Alongside his feature credits, directing assignments, novel and photography, it reflects a career that moved across multiple creative disciplines while remaining grounded in the craft of shaping films.