Chris Willingham, the veteran film editor who cut 24, The X-Files, Millennium, Harsh Realm and The Others, has died. He was 74.

The three-time Emmy Award winner died of a heart attack at home in Los Angeles on June 28, the WME agency confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lynne Willingham, who survives Chris as his wife of 37 years, added in a statement: “Chris was an intuitive editor. He was a gifted storyteller. His pacing and choices were incredibly beautiful. You could tell when watching a series if it was his episode. He was just always in the right place at the right time. You can’t really teach that. He was funny and smart, and I was so very lucky to have him not only as my wonderful husband but as my creative partner! We were a great team.” 

Born on Dec. 25, 1950, his career over four decades included film editing credits for Space Above and Beyond, Grimm, The Son, 21 Jump Street, Dragonball Evolution, Black Christmas, The A-Team and the feature Final Destination 3. More recently, Willingham cut an episode of Yellowstone in 2019, and before that three episodes of The Son.

The 1980s TV hit B.J. and the Bear was his first editing gig. But well before that, Willingham served in the U.S. Navy as a submariner. On completing his naval service, he started work in the film shipping department at KHJ Channel 9, and worked his way up into the news department.

In 1978, he moved over to Universal Film Studios as an assistant film editor. While editing The Greatest American Hero, the 1980s sci-fi series, Willingham caught the eye of prolific Hollywood producer Stephen J. Cannell and continued to work for SJC Productions for a decade.

He received five Emmy nominations for his work on 24, which he cut for the first four seasons, and came away in all with three Emmy trophies for his work on the Fox action series.

He is survived by Lynne Willingham, also a film editor and an Emmy winner for her work on Breaking Bad. They met while both worked at SJC Productions and they married in 1988. Together, they cut several shows for Stephen J. Cannell until his studio closed. They went on to work on series like The X-Files and the miniseries Empire and The Son. 

Of his marriage and creative collaboration with his wife, Willingham once said: “We had a producer, David Levinson, who loved that he had a married couple working for him. He thought that we were often talking about the show even when we were home. Kicking around ideas for the cut with each other. And he was right. If one of us had something that wasn’t working for us, we’d run it past each other. It was great having another editor that you trusted to bounce off of.”  

Willingham is also survived by his daughters Lisa and Julia; his son-in-law, David; his granddaughters Ella, Avery and Hollyn; and his six pets.

Willingham was an avid animal advocate, so in lieu of flowers, his family asks donations in his memory be made to their favorite animal rescue.