RIP Raúl Dávalos

Raúl Dávalos, Film Editor on 'Empire,' Dies at 62

By Mike Barnes

10/26/2017

He partnered with his wife and fellow editor on the Fox drama after working on four Lawrence Kasdan films and 'Gilmore Girls.'

Raúl Dávalos, a respected film editor who worked on such features as Benny & Joon and Dreamcatcher and on TV shows including Gilmore Girls and, most recently, Empire, has died. He was 62.

Dávalos died Monday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, his wife, Cindy Fret — who also works as an editor on Empire — told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in December.

Dávalos and Fret met in 2003 when both worked on Gilmore Girls, and they had been employed on Empire since the show's debut in January 2015. The couple were to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve.

“Raúl set the tone for the entire Empire family, which is filled with such great warm-hearted people," Ishai Setton, another editor on the show, wrote on Facebook.

Born in Havana, Dávalos came to the U.S. with his family when he was just a baby and was raised in Key Biscayne, Florida. He attended Loyola University in New Orleans and London Film School, moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s and worked as an assistant editor under his mentor, Carol Littleton (an Oscar nominee for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial).

Dávalos and Littleton collaborated on Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), Wyatt Earp (1994) and Dreamcatcher (2003), all directed by Lawrence Kasdan; Benny & Joon (1993), starring Johnny Depp; and John Bailey's China Moon (1994).

Dávalos' résumé also includes the Taylor Hackford documentary Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987) and the features Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995); Guillermo del Toro's Cronos (1993); Meet Wally Sparks (1997), starring Rodney Dangerfield; and The Amateurs (2005).

Dávalos worked on the WB Network-CW series Gilmore Girls throughout its seven-season run from 2000-07. He also edited other TV shows including Amazing Stories, Bunheads, Heroes, The Glades, Reign and Jane the Virgin.

Survivors also include his children Alina and Alex and brother Mario. A GoFundMe page has been created to help his family with expenses.

Born: 1955, Havana, Cuba

Died: 10/23/2017, Burbank, California, U.S.A.

Silverado – 1985

Wyatt Earp - 1994