Gerald Finnerman

Gerald Perry Finnerman (December 17, 1931 – April 6, 2011) was an American cinematographer who worked on TV series such as Moonlighting and the original Star Trek. He served as vice president of the American Society of Cinematographers, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography in Entertainment Programming for a Special.

Biography Gerald Finnerman was born on December 17, 1931, in Los Angeles, California. and afterwards went to Loyola Marymount University, where he majored in abnormal psychology. Finnerman was a combat photographer before joining his father, Perry Finnerman, at Warner Bros., where Perry was contracted as a camera operator (and, later, a cinematographer). After Perry's death at the age of 56, Finnerman began to work with Harry Stradling at Warner. Stradling promoted Finnerman from focus puller to camera operator, and in 1964 the two left Warner to become freelancers.

They worked together for Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures on films such as Walk, Don't Run, starring Cary Grant, and the Jack Lemmon movie How to Murder Your Wife.

He worked on Star Trek through most of the three-year run of the series, and afterwards moved on to Mission: Impossible, another Paramount (and former Desilu) production. He worked on The Lost Man starring Sidney Poitier. In 1969 he was on board a small Piper Pacer airplane with other crew, to scout out locations in Colorado. The plane crashed, and Finnerman was the sole survivor. The injuries he suffered in the crash resulted in him being required to wear a metal full body brace for the following six years.