Stell worked for more than a decade at the start of his career at Columbia Pictures (1943–1955 credits), which was a major Hollywood studio in that era.
[1][2][3] Touch of Evil, which was directed by Orson Welles, proved difficult for Stell; he was not the initial editor but instead chosen for re-editing, and he noted that Welles became "ill, depressed, and unhappy with the studio's impatience" in the process.
He was nominated for the American Cinema Editors Eddie award for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
He was also nominated for Eddies for his television work on an episode of Ben Casey (1961) and on the mini-series Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980).
In 1996 he shared the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award with Desmond Marquette.