John Grover, film editor on three James Bond films, dies at 87
John Grover, the English film editor behind three James Bond films, has died at 87.
He died on 28 September, according to Deadline, which published its obituary on 30 September. British Film Editors also confirmed his death on social media, without giving a cause of death. Its announcement, published on 29 September, was headlined “John Grover BFE, 1938 - 2026”.
Grover was born on 24 October 1938 in Barnet, Middlesex. He was 87 at his death. A film editor assembles raw footage into the finished picture, shaping order, pace and length. It is quiet work. It decides what audiences finally see.
His lead editing credits in the Bond series were For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). The credit means he headed the edit on each production. The three films were released across eight years. Each arrived as a large theatrical release built around stunts, locations and a tight running time.
He had already helped cut three earlier entries in the long-running spy series. They were The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and Octopussy (1983). To help cut a film is to share the editing workload under the lead editor. The distinction matters in the cutting room, where hours of material must be reduced to a releasable length.
His early career included junior work on two large-scale features of the 1960s. He served as uncredited assistant editor on Doctor Zhivago (1965). He then held the same uncredited post on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). An assistant editor supports the lead editor, logging, assembling and refining footage. Uncredited means the contribution was not named on screen.
The news was first shared by his professional body. In its posts, British Film Editors said John Grover BFE had passed away on Monday 28 September. A second post from the group, dated 30 September, carried the same headline and the same date of death. BFE is the professional association for editors working in Britain, whose initials members place after their names.
Earlier this year, that same body had honoured him. On 24 April, it announced that its Lifetime Achievement Award would go to John Grover BFE, in a notice shared on Instagram on 3 May. A lifetime award is a peer honour, voted or chosen by fellow editors. The notice came five months before his death.
