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Elena Maganini, a TV and film editor who won an Emmy for cutting the pilot for “Dexter” and edited several films for director John McNaughton, died Oct. 21 in Burbank of complications from breast cancer. She was 70.
Born in Chicago, she graduated from the U. of Illinois and studied filmmaking at Columbia College in Chicago. Maganini started out working at Sinnot & Associates, a Chicago production company.
Her first feature credit came for McNaughton’s influential 1986 “Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer.” She went on to edit McNaughton films including “Wild Things,” which starred Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell and Kevin Bacon, “Mad Dog & Glory” and “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll,” “The Borrower,” “Speaking of Sex” and “Lansky.” Other feature credits include “Next Friday” and “Ed Gein.”
Moving into television, Maganini edited the pilot for “Dexter,” for which she won an Emmy, and went on to edit shows including “Madam Secretary,” “Good Behavior,” “Clarice,” “Manifest” and “The Cleaning Lady.” She was nominated for an Emmy and a Cable ACE Award for “If These Walls Could Talk,” an anthology about abortion directed by Cher and Nancy Savoca and starring Catherine Keener, Demi Moore and Shirley Knight.
She was a member of American Cinema Editors.
Survivors include husband Scott Collins, communications director at Motion Picture Editors Guild; daughter Gabriella Coronel; and daughter-in-law Adrienne Coronel.
A memorial service will be held Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Donations may be made to Columbia College Chicago, Tree House Humane Society or the Stray Cat Alliance.
