Harry W. Gerstad

American film editor (1909–2002)

Harry W. Gerstad

Born	Harry Donald Gerstad June 11, 1909
Died	July 17, 2002
Occupation(s)	Film editor, director

Harry W. Gerstad (born Harry Donald Gerstad; June 11, 1909 – July 17, 2002) was an American film editor who sometimes directed films. The Academy Award-winning editor also worked on television. He edited as well as directed for the 1950s program Adventures of Superman. In the 1960s he worked for Bing Crosby Productions and Batjac Productions. Gerstad retired to Palm Springs, California in 1973^[1] and lived there until his death in 2002.^[2]

Awards and nominations

He won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing (the "Oscar") twice: for the boxing drama Champion in 1949 and for Fred Zinnemann's seminal Western High Noon in 1952. Elmo Williams, who was co-editor of High Noon, indicated in his autobiography that Gerstad's credit was a nominal one.^[3] At that time the editorial supervisor (Gerstad) was usually (and often contractually) given superior credit to subordinate editors (Williams), and one responsibility of Gerstad's position was selecting and hiring Williams, who only worked on this one Stanley Kramer production.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, Gerstad received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award.

Gerstad was honored with a Palm Springs Walk of Stars Golden Palm Star in 2003.^[4]

Filmography

Editor

Brazil (film editor – not credited) 1944^[5]
The Spiral Staircase (film editor) (1946)
Till the End of Time (film editor) 1946
Crossfire (film editor) (1947)
So Well Remembered (film editor) 1947
Unknown Island (film editor) 1948
Champion (film editor) 1949
Home of the Brave (film editor) 1949
Tough Assignment (film editor) (1949)
Gun Crazy (film editor) 1950
The Men (film editor) 1950
Rocketship X-M (film editor) (1950)
Cyrano de Bergerac (film editor) 1950
Death of a Salesman (editorial supervisor) 1951
Eight Iron Men (editorial supervisor) 1952
The Happy Time (editorial supervisor) 1952
My Six Convicts (editorial supervisor) 1952
The Sniper (editorial supervisor) 1952
High Noon (editorial supervisor) 1952
The Four Poster (editorial supervisor) 1952
Combat Squad (film editor) 1953
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (editorial supervisor) 1953
The Juggler (editorial supervisor) 1953
The Member of the Wedding (editorial supervisor) 1953
Frontier Gun (film editor) 1958
The Alligator People (supervising film editor) 1959
Five Gates to Hell (supervising editor) 1959
Here Come the Jets (supervising film editor) 1959
The Rookie (supervising film editor) 1959
Freckles (supervising film editor) 1960
13 Fighting Men (film editor) 1960
Young Jesse James (film editor) 1960
The Magic Sword (film editor) 1962
Walk on the Wild Side (film editor) 1962
Of Love and Desire (film editor) 1963
Batman (film editor) (1966)
The War Wagon (film editor) (1967)
The Secret Life of an American Wife (film editor) 1968
Hard Contract (film editor) 1969
Cover Me Babe (film editor) 1970
Big Jake (film editor) 1971
Ben (film editor) 1972
Walking Tall (film editor) (1973)
Framed (film editor) 1975

Director

13 Fighting Men (director) (1960)

References

^ Oliver, Myrna (2002). "Harry Gerstad, 93: Film Editor Won 2 Academy Awards," Los Angeles Times July 17, 2002.
^ Meeks, Eric G. (2014) [2012]. The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 364. ISBN 978-1479328598.
^ Williams, Elmo (2006). Elmo Williams: A Hollywood Memoir (McFarland), p. 86. ISBN 0-7864-2621-7
^ Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated Archived 2012-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ "AFI|Catalog".