Gerald Finnerman facts for kids

Gerald Perry Finnerman (born December 17, 1931 – died April 6, 2011) was a talented American cinematographer. A cinematographer is the person in charge of how a movie or TV show looks on screen. They decide on the lighting, camera angles, and how the picture is filmed.

Gerald Finnerman worked on many famous TV shows. These include Moonlighting and the original Star Trek. He was also a vice president of the American Society of Cinematographers. This is a group for top cinematographers. He even won a special award called a Primetime Emmy Award. This award was for his amazing work in entertainment programming.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Gerald Finnerman was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 17, 1931. He went to Hollywood High School. After that, he studied at Loyola Marymount University. He focused on a subject called abnormal psychology there.

Before working in movies, Finnerman was a combat photographer. This means he took pictures during wars. Later, he joined his father, Perry Finnerman, at Warner Bros. His father was a camera operator there. After his father passed away, Gerald started working with Harry Stradling. Stradling was a well-known cinematographer.

Stradling saw Gerald's talent. He promoted him from a focus puller to a camera operator. A focus puller makes sure the camera's image is clear. In 1964, Gerald and Harry left Warner Bros. to work on their own. They became freelancers, meaning they worked for different studios.

Working on Famous Films

Gerald Finnerman and Harry Stradling worked together on many films. They worked for big studios like Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios. Some of their movies included Walk, Don't Run with Cary Grant. They also worked on How to Murder Your Wife starring Jack Lemmon.

Finnerman was the camera operator when Harry Stradling won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. This was for the movie My Fair Lady. Stradling then suggested Gerald for a new science fiction TV show. This show was Star Trek.

Creating the Look of Star Trek

Gerald Finnerman was hired for Star Trek when he was just 32 years old. This made him one of the youngest cinematographers in Hollywood. He believed in trying new things. He once said that on a show like Star Trek, you had to "push the envelope." This means trying new and bold ideas.

He used special lighting to create different moods. He used colored gels on lights. He also changed the colors of background walls. This helped him create many different effects on the same set.

One of his most famous contributions was the transporter effect. This is how characters seemed to disappear and reappear. He explained how he did it. He put lights at the top and bottom where actors stood. Then, someone would control the lights. They would turn them on and off quickly to create the "zapping" effect.

Later Career and Achievements

Gerald Finnerman worked on Star Trek for most of its three-year run. After that, he moved on to another popular show. This was Mission: Impossible. He also worked on the movie The Lost Man with Sidney Poitier.

In 1969, Finnerman was in a small plane looking for filming locations. The plane crashed, and he was the only survivor. He suffered serious injuries. He had to wear a special body brace for six years while he recovered.

In 1970, he joined the American Society of Cinematographers. Harry Stradling nominated him for this honor. Later, he became the vice president of this important society.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he received many Primetime Emmy Award nominations. These were for his work on shows like Kojak and From Here to Eternity. He won an Emmy for his work on the TV movie Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women.

In 1985, he started working on Moonlighting. He earned two more Emmy nominations for this show. The creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, asked Finnerman to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, he turned down the offer.

In 1996, he was honored for his work on Star Trek. He was put into the Producers Guild Hall of Fame. He was also nominated for "Philanthropic Man of the Year." This was for his good deeds. Gerald Finnerman announced his retirement in 2002. He passed away on April 6, 2011.