Biography
Harry Gerstad was an American film editor who sometimes directed. Born Harry Donald Gerstad on 11 June 1909, he was the son of silent-film cinematographer Harry W. Gerstad. He began working in film laboratories in 1929 at Hal Roach Studios, later at Warner Bros. and Republic Pictures.
After the Second World War he edited features at RKO, often with director Edward Dmytryk, including The Spiral Staircase (1946), Crossfire (1947) and Till the End of Time (1946). From 1949 he served as editorial supervisor for Stanley Kramer at Columbia Pictures, editing Champion (1949), Home of the Brave (1949), Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and Death of a Salesman (1951). He shared an Academy Award for Best Film Editing on High Noon (1952) with Elmo Williams.
Gerstad also edited for Bing Crosby Productions and John Wayne’s Batjac Productions in the 1960s, and worked on the television series Adventures of Superman, directing some episodes. He received the American Cinema Editors Career Achievement Award in 1997. He retired in 1973 and lived in Palm Springs, California, until his death on 17 July 2002.
