Tributes paid to GBCT stalwart Dee Edwards

The cinematography world was saddened to hear about the loss of Dee Edwards, who passed away on 19 December.

Edwards was a long-standing and much-loved employee of the Guild of British Camera Technicians (GBCT). The GBCT’s chair, Tim Potter, broke the news of her passing on 20 December.

“Over her years with the Guild she transformed us into the foremost education and training organisation in the camera world,” he said in a heartfelt statement. “She cared for every member like they were her family. She brought her immense knowledge and experience in both production and education to the full advantage of the guild’s members. We were blessed by her presence. She is irreplaceable and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.”

Edwards was a great friend of this magazine. “It is with great sadness we heard the news of the death of Dee Edwards, who passed away this week,” stated British Cinematographer’s publisher, Stuart Walters. “Over the years Dee has worked closely with the team at British Cinematographer, becoming a great friend and trusted colleague. Dee was instrumental in forging a strong relationship with the magazine and for us becoming media partners with the Guild. Tim Potter’s eloquent tribute to Dee posted on the GBCT website says it all: She was inspirational and hugely respected by everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working with her. She will be greatly missed as a friend and a valued colleague.”

“I knew Dee before I ever ‘knew’ her. She was that sort of person,” said Simon Edwards of the Guild of Television Camera Professionals (GTC). “That said, everyone knew Dee and Dee knew everyone. She was the best friend anyone could hope for, offering help and advice and plenty of scurrilous rumour and gossip. Always delivered with her infectious giggle. We would always try and be neighbours at shows and events creating a proper community feel for the members of both the GBCT and GTC and those events will never be the same for any of us. One of our ex-council members told me yesterday how Dee was always ‘kind and supportive to me at exhibitions’ and that sums her up. It didn’t matter who you were, you were treated as an equal and as a valued member of our world. As so many have said, Dee is irreplaceable. I know I will miss her forever.

“On behalf on the GTC our most sincere condolences to Dee’s family, her friends, and everyone who ever had the pleasure of knowing, working or even just meeting her.”

Tributes to Edwards poured in when the GBCT announced the sad news on their Facebook page.

“Dee, you were so wonderfully supportive and dedicated to us all and treated us like family, as so many others have also expressed,” commented Lol Crawley BSC. “I look back fondly on our time in Malta at a film festival you asked me to lecture at. It was a blast! I’ll miss those times of prepping at Panavision and coming into the office to see you. Thank you and rest easy.”

“She was so very kind and helpful – putting me forward for jobs, always making time for a chat,” stated Mark Dempsey. “She completely transformed the Guild when she took the reins, pushing ahead with many new courses and events, giving a great heart to the organisation.”

Chris Nunn added: “She was so helpful and generous to me when I was entering the industry as a camera trainee. She was so keen to help new people get their break in the industry and helped me no end, we’ve lost a wonderful, wonderful human being.”

Mike Fox, GBCT HonMem said: “Deanne Edwards was the luckiest find the Board of Governors ever enjoyed when they brought in Deanne to run the Guild. She did more than that, putting the GBCT on the map as the most respected source of training courses at all technical levels in the filmmaking world. Our GBCT Trainee Scheme quickly earned itself a badge of merit, attaching bright young rookies to working with top-class camera crews on major movies. ‘Trained by the GBCT’, became simple passwords not only for a he-or-she young ‘un’s efficiency, but their cando attitudes as members of a team. ‘Dee-Dee’, as I always addressed her, would ask my advice here and there, and I was flattered sometimes when she actually followed it. But quietly and considerately, Deanne herself always found the best way to respect the GBCT’s Board while fully dedicating herself to the wellbeing of the membership. I can’t think of anyone who was more honest, more polite, more respectful, and more considerate in her care for others than ‘Dee Dee’. In her passing, and so young, may God rest her blessed soul.”

Roger Mills commented: “Deanne Edwards was a lovely girl who filled every office with laughter and the sunshine of her personality.  I know, as we shared an office for five years (from 1975 to 1980).

“Dee was talented, hard-working, bright, and full of joie de vivre. She was never in the BBC but every Friday would receive her wages in cash in a little brown envelope at the BBC forecourt cash office – a most un-BBC like practise.  But I, her boss, could not do without her and insisted she worked with me, as a personal assistant.

“Dee had many dragons to slay and glass ceilings to smash, but she never lost her sense of balance or humour. She loved her family, the BBC and her cat, Stanley, in that order. All her friends are numbed at the passing of this unique, professional and personable woman.”

You can read more wonderful memories of Dee on the GBCT’s Facebook post. If you would like to share a tribute or memory of Dee for this story, please contact the British Cinematographer team.