Peter Gimbel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter R. Gimbel (born 14 February 1927 in New York City ; died 12. July 1987 ) was an American diver , film director for documentaries and underwater photographer .

life and work

Peter Gimbel was born in New York City in 1927 as the son of the businessman Bernard Gimbel and was heir to the department store chain Gimbel Brothers Inc. , a successful department store chain in the United States , from 1959 . From 1946 to 1947 Gimbel served as a soldier in the United States Army and participated in the occupation of Japan after World War II . In 1951 he graduated from Yale University in English and Business. From 1952 to 1960 he worked as an investment banker at White, Well & Company on Wall Street, but left this position after the death of his twin brother, David Alva Gimbel, to become active as a researcher and explorer. From 1960 to 1962 he studied science at Columbia University .

When the Italian passenger ship Andrea Doria sank in 1956 , Peter Gimbel and Joseph Fox were the first to track down and dive into the wreck. He published pictures in Life magazine and later headed a number of rescue operations, including opening the first class safe in 1981 and by him in a live television broadcast in 1984. He also produced two documentaries about the ship, titled The Mystery of the Andrea Doria and Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter . In 1963 he led an expedition to the Peruvian Andes on behalf of National Geographic Magazine and the New York Zoological Society to search for the lost Inca city ​​of Vilcabamba .

In 1971 Gimbel also produced the film Blue Water, White Death (German: Blaues Wasser, Weißer Tod ) under the label Blue Meridian Company as the first documentary about the great white shark and shot it together with the married couple Ron and Valerie Taylor , Rodney Fox , Stan Waterman and Peter Lake. The shark attack on Gimbel's diving cage in the film inspired author Peter Benchley in his work on the script for the film Jaws .

Peter Gimbel's first marriage to Mary Bailey (who later married Sidney Lumet ) resulted in two children. His second marriage to model Virginia Taylor also ended in divorce. He was married to the German actress Elga Andersen from 1978 until his death. He died on July 12, 1987, in cancer . Elga Gimbel died on December 7, 1994; the ashes of both were taken to the wreck of the Andrea Doria.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e Peter Gimbel is dead at 59; a film maker and journalist , New York Times, July 13, 1987; accessed on September 15, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Credo Reference Topic: "Peter Robin Gimbel"
  3. ↑ Kenneth MacLeish: Divers Explore The Sunken Andrea Doria. Report on the dive to the Andrea Doria on andreadoria.org, September 11, 2007; accessed on September 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ IMDb: "Blue Water, White Death"
  5. ↑ Thom Benson, "Famous Shark Cage To Be Unveiled At Aquarium Sunday" ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Chattanoogan.com, Jul 21, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chattanoogan.com
  6. ↑ a b c Gioia Diliberto: What Will Adventurers Peter Gimbel and Elga Andersen Dive into Next? Movies! . In: People of November 2, 1981
  7. ↑ Peter Gimbel on findagrave.com; accessed on September 15, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Gimbel, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gimbel, Peter R .; Gimbel, Peter Robin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diver, documentary film director and underwater photographer
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1987
Place of death New York City