James Needs was born on 17 October 1919, in Holborn, London.
Hammer’s most credited crew member, a veteran of 114 separate productions, James gained his first editing job at Islington Studio in 1935, then to Shepherd’s Bush as assembly cutter. He bacame the editor there by 1948, before joining Hammer Studios the following year. From 1958 to 1969, he was supervising editor at Hammer.
James was married twice firstly to Wynifred Rose Makin, from 1940 until her death in 1978, and then to Mona Reilly from 1984 until his death in 2003
James Needs died in Ynys Mon, Anglesey, Wales, UK in 2003, he was 83.
James Needs’ Hammer Filmography
| Year Released | Production | Role | Credited |
| 1950 | Room to Let | Editor | Yes |
| 1950 | What the Butler Saw | Editor | Yes |
| 1951 | To Have and to Hold | Editor | Yes |
| 1951 | A Case for PC 49 | Editor | Yes |
| 1951 | Black Widow | Editor | Yes |
| 1952 | Whispering Smith Hits London | Editor | Yes |
| 1952 | Wings of Danger | Editor | Yes |
| 1952 | Lady in the Fog | Editor | Yes |
| 1953 | Mantrap | Editor | Yes |
| 1953 | The Saints Return | Editor | Yes |
| 1953 | The Flanagan Boy | Editor | Yes |
| 1954 | Five Days | Editor | Yes |
| 1954 | The House Across the Lake | Editor | Yes |
| 1954 | 36 Hours | Editor | Yes |
| 1954 | The Men of Sherwood Forest | Editor | Yes |
| 1955 | Third Party Risk | Editor | Yes |
| 1955 | The Glass Cage | Editor | Yes |
| 1955 | The Quatermass Xperiment | Editor | Yes |
| 1956 | Eric Winstones Stagecoach | Editing | Yes |
| 1956 | Women Without Men | Editor | Yes |
| 1956 | X - The Unknown | Editor | Yes |
| 1956 | Dick Turpin, Highwayman | Editor | Yes |
| 1957 | The Curse of Frankenstein | Editor | Yes |
| 1957 | Quatermass 2 | Editor | Yes |
| 1957 | Man with a Dog | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1957 | Danger List | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1958 | The Camp on Blood Island | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1958 | Clean Sweep | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1958 | Dracula | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1958 | The Snorkel | Editor | Yes |
| 1958 | The Revenge of Frankenstein | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | I Only Arsked! | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | Ten Seconds to Hell | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | The Ugly Duckling | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | The Mummy | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | Yesterdays Enemy | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1959 | The Man Who Could Cheat Death | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | The Stranglers of Bombay | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | Never Take Sweets from a Stranger | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | Hell is a City | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | The Brides of Dracula | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | Passport to China | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1960 | Sword of Sherwood Forest | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | Taste of Fear | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | A Weekend with Lulu | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | The Curse of the Werewolf | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | The Shadow of the Cat | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | The Terror of the Tongs | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1961 | Watch it Sailor | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1962 | Captain Clegg | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1962 | The Phantom of the Opera | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1962 | The Pirates of Blood River | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1963 | Maniac | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1963 | The Damned | Supervising Editor | No |
| 1963 | The Scarlet Blade | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1963 | Cash on Demand | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | Paranoiac | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | Nightmare | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | The Evil of Frankenstein | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | The Devil-Ship Pirates | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | The Curse of the Mummys Tomb | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | The Gorgon | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1964 | The Kiss of the Vampire | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | Fanatic | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | She | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | Secret of Blood Island | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | Hysteria | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | The Brigand of Kandahar | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1965 | The Nanny | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | Dracula, Prince of Darkness | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | The Plague of the Zombies | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | Rasputin the Mad Monk | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | The Reptile | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | The Old Dark House | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | The Witches | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1966 | One Million Years B.C. | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | The Viking Queen | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | The Mummys Shroud | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | Frankenstein Created Woman | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | Slave Girls | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | Quatermass and the Pit | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1967 | A Challenge for Robin Hood | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1968 | The Anniversary | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1968 | The Vengeance of She | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1968 | The Lost Continent | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1968 | The Devil Rides Out | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1968 | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The New People | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Somewhere in a Crowd | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Matakitas is Coming | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Jane Browns Body | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Do Me a Favor and Kill Me | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Poor Butterfly | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The Madison Equation | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Girl of My Dreams | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The Last Visitor | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Eve | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The Indian Spirit Guide | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The Killing Bottle | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | Stranger in the Family | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | The Beckoning Fair One | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1969 | One on an Island | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1970 | Paper Dolls | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1970 | Miss Belle | Supervising Editor | Yes |
| 1970 | The Vampire Lovers | Editor | Yes |
| 1970 | Scars of Dracula | Editor | Yes |
| 1971 | Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde | Editor | Yes |
| 1972 | Dracula AD 1972 | Editor | Yes |
| 1973 | Love Thy Neighbour | Editor | Yes |
| 1973 | Holiday on the Buses | Film Editor | Yes |
| 1974 | Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter | Editor | Yes |
| 1974 | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | Editor | Yes |