Coates was born in Reigate, Surrey, England, the daughter of Kathleen Voase (née Rank) and Major Laurence Calvert Coates.[6] Her first passion was horses. As a girl, she thought she might become a race-horse trainer.[7]
Coates attended the Reigate village school called the Micklefield School. She then attended High Trees School in Horley (Surrey). Her final school was Bartrum Gables in Broadstairs (Kent).[8]
Before becoming a film editor, she worked as a nurse at Sir Archibald McIndoe's pioneering plastic surgery hospital in East Grinstead, England.[9]
Career
Coates became interested in cinema after seeing Wuthering Heights (1939) directed by William Wyler.[10] She decided to pursue film directing and started working as an assistant at a production company specializing in religious films (also doing projectionist and sound recording work). There she fixed film prints of religious short films before sending them to various British church tours. This splicing work eventually led to the rare job as an assistant film editor at Pinewood Studios, where she worked on various films. Her first experience was assisting for film editor Reggie Mills.[7]
Coates was at the centre of a film industry family. Besides being the niece of J. Arthur Rank, she was married to the director Douglas Hickox for many years.[12] Her brother, John Coates, was a producer (The Snowman and Yellow Submarine). Her sons, Anthony Hickox (1959-2023) and James Hickox (b. 1965) were film directors. Her daughter Emma E. Hickox (b. 1964) is a film editor.[12]
"In a way, I've never looked at myself as a woman in the business. I've just looked at myself as an editor. I mean, I'm sure I've been turned down because I'm a woman, but then other times I've been used because they wanted a woman editor."[7]
"...I guess I've been lucky that most of the time I've been in the same direction as the director. I try to work with directors whose work I like and find interesting. When I was younger, I had to find work where I could, and I had some not great experiences with directors."[7]
"You have the courage of your convictions. When you're editing you have to make thousands of decisions every day and if you dither over them all the time, you'll never get anything done."[14]
"I seem to get the rhythm from the performances. I like to feel I'm very much an actor's editor. I look very much to the performances and cut very much for performances rather than the action. I think that's important, what's in the eyes of the actor."[14]
Selected filmography
1947: The End of the River – second editor (uncredited)[15]
1949: The History of Mr. Polly – assistant editor (uncredited)[15]
^Sleeman, Elizabeth, ed. (2002). The International Who's Who of Women 2002 (3rd ed.). London: Europa Publications. p. 109. ISBN978-1-857-43122-3. OCLC925772556.
