DIED. Hal Ashby, 59, Academy Award-winning film editor (In the Heat of the Night) and director; of liver and colon cancer; in Malibu, Calif. Ashby's understated approach to filmmaking produced such box-office hits as Harold and Maude, Shampoo, Coming Home and Being There. But his most recent films, The Slugger's Wife and 8 Million Ways to Die, were both critical and commercial disappointments. At the time of his death, he was preparing to direct Truman Capote's Handcarved Coffins.