Margaret Booth

Film editor Margaret Booth, whose seven-decade career included work on such classic motion pictures as the original " Mutiny on the Bounty " and " The Way We Were, " has died. She was 104.

Miss Booth died Oct. 28 at Century City Hospital in Los Angeles of complications from a stroke, publicist Leslie Friedman said.

Miss Booth, who received an Academy Award nomination in 1935 for " Mutiny on the Bounty " and an honorary Oscar in 1977 for her contribution to the craft of film editing, was remembered as a tireless editor who worked well into her 80s.

" Her collaboration with my company began when she was 70 years old, and her instincts were remarkable even in her later years, when she saved many a film for me, " producer Ray Stark said. Miss Booth worked on several Neil Simon comedies for Stark ' s production company, including " The Goodbye Girl. "

Among the many movies Miss Booth edited for various Hollywood studios were " Camille " with Greta Garbo, " A Yank at Oxford, " " The Red Badge of Courage, " " Fat City " and " The Sunshine Boys. "

Miss Booth, born in Los Angeles in 1898, started in films at age 17 as a film joiner for D.W. Griffith. Within a few years, she was working with director John M. Stahl, whom she credited for teaching her the techniques of cutting film.

" When I cut silent films, I used to count to get the rhythm, " Miss Booth told writer Kevin Brownlow in " The Parade ' s Gone By, " a book about silent movies. " If I was cutting a march of soldiers, or anything with a beat to it, and I wanted to change the angle, I would count one-two-three-four-five-six. I made a beat for myself. "

The first film Miss Booth edited herself was " The Bridge of San Luis Rey, " a silent film released in 1929 that had a sequence that was partly sound.

The advent of sound in movies made things much more difficult for cutters who now had to worry about keeping the picture and the sound in sync. But Miss Booth adapted to many technological advances in filmmaking.

" Margaret was a tough, unsentimental editor who read film like others would read a book, " Stark said.

Miss Booth, who never married, is survived by a cousin.