Leslie Steven Onody: 1954 - 2008

Tribute to Les Onody

I have stood in front of many podiums picking up awards for films Les cut, and I always invoked Les's name, because I was always so aware and so grateful that I'd been hoisted onto the stage by the indefatigable and quite indescribable skills of Leslie Steven Onody.

I said at one ceremony that he was a genius trying to hide in the skin of an ordinary mortal—and I meant it. I didn't say it then to be maudlin and I don't say it now to be graceful in the face of his passing. I say it because I truly believe it—and others do too...

I asked people to write to me with thoughts about Les.

Les Onody, centre, his wife Linda and producer Neil Docherty with their Gemini awards for the 1999 documentary Bad Blood

From David Studer Executive Producer of the fifth estate:
"... excellent editor... a great sense of rhythm of a piece, and a sharp mind."

Jim Williamson, former Senior Producer of the fifth estate:
"Shows like the fifth estate draw energy and inspiration from incomparable people like Les."

Les and I did many co-productions with the PBS programme Frontline and with the New York Times. David Rummel, Senior Producer from the Times wrote:
"In 30 years in television journalism I have never worked with a better editor than Les Onody."

And our friend Lowell Bergman formerly of 60 Minutes and now with Frontline... wrote a long tribute... He talks of a decade of work with us and says:
"The results were always spectacular. Together with Neil Docherty and Les, I worked on documentaries that were honored with the highest awards ... even a Pulitzer prize! The stories changed, but Les didn't. He was the rock who would labor in his cave making art out of our piles of facts and footage."

It must be incomprehensible to people outside television to understand how much intense human effort goes in to make an hour of television. In the case of Les, his work would come in the form of huge misshapen piles of pictures, clumps of sound and knots of information.

Les in his fifth estate edit suite.

I often felt, entering Les's room, like a poacher who had just skinned his knees getting over the Laird's wall. And here I was triumphant dumping a still beating bag onto Les's desk and all he had to do was: slay whatever was inside; pluck it, skin it, filet it, cook it, garnish it and plate it.

And this, of course, he did with consummate skill, and having done it - another producer would burst through the doors with a big beating bag.

Les was generous with his genius—offering it in equal portion to seasoned veterans like myself and novice producers, anxiously making their first film.

The films Les cut have had huge play around the world and will live long, as an inspiration in our profession. But there was, of course, more to Les.

When you share a small windowless room perhaps 12 by 10 with someone for 12-perhaps 16 hours a day for weeks that turn to months—sometimes three months you learn a great deal about your cell mate. And through 19 years of sharing what I often call a state of artistic torment I had the privilege of peering into the soul of a thoroughly decent man.

Daily I saw him transformed, the timber of his voice soften with the phone call from his wife Linda. It was always so apparent that he cherished that daily ritual.

And there was a special voice—slathered with concern and affection--for the calls to mom, to check up on her. He was consumed with looking after her.

Les, with producer Neil Docherty, researcher Leslie Fruman and the international Emmy for the 1992 documentary To Sell a War

And there were the long, deep friendships that were a large part of Les's life, when he escaped the four walls we shared. Weekends of carousing, an open house for friends and long nights of luminous bowling, which I never quite understood.

And for me, when I heard about the weekends from a somewhat subdued genius on Monday morning, it made his Herculean efforts at the CBC all the more noble. Les had a life to live. He wasn't subsuming his life in work and yet every effort had to be made to make every film—every sequence and sound of every film--the best it could be. He could easily have cut corners, recalibrated the balance between life and work, but it never entered his mind, because a large part of the make-up of this thoroughly decent man was a life of two dedications: his family, and friends; and his work. He was unstinting in both spheres. He established, I think, an exquisite balance between the two.

I had occasion once to tap into Les's spirituality and it was revealing.

We were cutting a film about Islamic extremism. One of the characters in the film was going into some detail about the best way to smite the enemy, and Les let out a grunt! And with all those years in the dark room I knew that wasn't a normal grunt—there was something philosophical lurking within it.

Les Onody

And so I learned that Les of an ardent LAList. He had a spiritual/philosophical creed, which he described to me as LALism! At the time we were grappling with how to explain arcane strands of Islamic fundamentalism like Salafism and Takfirism and now Les throws in LALism.

What is LALism, says I?

"Live and Let Live—that is what I believe in" says Les. He was serious and that I think is how he did live and he did it well.

There is little comfort to be taken away from this, but I think it is worth us all at least fondling some thoughts as we cradle our terrible grief.

First, that Mrs. Onody raised a wonderful loving son, who made a contribution to life in their adopted home, and who benefited from freedoms that were denied in Hungary in the 1960's;
That Linda, surely could not have chosen a better partner;
And for the rest of us–that our lives were truly enriched—mine beyond measure—by knowing Les Onody—a fine man, and a great LAList!

Watch Les Onody's Work Online

For two decades, Les Onody's contribution to the fifth estate as an editor of documentaries went far beyond the compiling and cutting of images. His contribution to the entire process of documentary storytelling was invaluable. You can watch some of Les' recent work for the fifth estate.

The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney (Oct. 6/04)
War Without Borders (Dec. 1/04)
Dark Crystal (March 24/05)
Failing Jeffrey (Apr. 12/06)
Among the Believers (Jan. 17/07)
If Justice Fails (Oct. 17/07)
Cruel Camera (Jan. 16/08)
Bad Day at Barrhead (Feb. 27/08)