The editor who helped created the signature look of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds has died in Los Angeles.

Sally Menke, 56, who worked on all of Quentin Tarantino's features as well as Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth and Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls, was found in Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood Hills this morning.

Menke was best known as part of Tarantino's regular post-production team, having been hired to edit his first feature. She told the Observer last year: "He sent me this script for a thing called Reservoir Dogs and I just thought it was amazing."

She went on to forge a strong creative relationship with the director, describing him as "encyclopaedic, passionate, electrifying".

Reports suggest that Menke may have been overcome by hot weather while out hiking with her dog, but the cause of death has not yet been established. Her most recent credit was a low-budget thriller called Peacock, directed by first-timer Michael Lander.