She was the first American film editor to use the European techniques of beginning a sequence with a close-up or jump cut, and overlapping sound between shots. She was one of the first editors to give sound as much importance as images.
The producers asked Dede Allen to edit Starsky & Hutch (2004). She met
once with director Todd Phillips to discuss it but eventually declined
the offer.
In 1992, Dede Allen became the head of post production at Warner Bros.
She only returned to editing eight years later with Wonder Boys (2000).