Peter Gimbel
{{short description|American filmmaker and underwater photojournalist (1927–1987)}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Peter R. Gimbel
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|02|14}}
| birth_place = New York City, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|07|12|1927|02|14}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| education =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- Mary Bailey
- Virginia Taylor
- Elga Andersen (until death)
}}
| occupation =
| children = 2
| parents = Bernard Gimbel
| family = Adam Gimbel (great-grandfather)
}}
Peter R. Gimbel (February 14, 1927 – July 12, 1987) was an American filmmaker and underwater photojournalist.
Biography
Born in New York City, he was the son of Alva (née Bernheimer) and Bernard Feustman Gimbel and heir to the Gimbels department store chain.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100428231014/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924847,00.html "Gimbel's Grail"], Time Magazine, September 14, 1981{{Cite web|last=McQuiston |first=John T.|title=Peter R Gimbel is Dead at 59; A Film Maker and Journalist |work=New York Times|date=July 13, 1987|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DC1F31F930A25754C0A961948260 }}{{Cite web|title=Alva Gimbel Is Dead; Active Philanthropist|work=New York Times|date=May 1, 1983|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/01/obituaries/alva-gimbel-is-dead-active-philanthropist.html }} His great grandfather was Adam Gimbel.{{Cite news|last=Smith |first=Scott S.|title=Bernard Gimbel, A Force Behind Thanksgiving Parade |newspaper=Investor's Business Daily|date=November 27, 2013|url=https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/bernard-gimbel-was-a-publicity-genius/}} He had two sisters, Hope Gimbel Solinger and Caral Gimbel Lebworth; and one brother, David Alva Gimbel.{{Cite web|title=David Alva Gimbel Dies of Cancer at 29; Son of Store Head Was Investment Aide|work=New York Times|date=July 8, 1957|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/07/08/archives/david-alva-gimbel-dies-of-cancer-at-29-son-of-store-head-was.html }} After serving in the United States Army occupation force in Japan in 1946–1947, he graduated from Yale University in 1951, earning degrees in both English and economics.Credo Reference Topic: [http://www.credoreference.com/topic/gimbel_peter_robin_1928_1987 "Peter Robin Gimbel"] He spent ten years as an investment banker but after the death of his twin brother at age 29, he left banking to pursue a career in exploration. He parachuted into the Peruvian Andes with G. Brooks Baekeland (grandson of Leo Baekeland, the inventor of Bakelite) and Peter Lake in search of the lost Inca city of Vilcabamba.Peter R. Gimbel, "By Parachute Into Peru", National Geographic Magazine, August 1964
He was the first to dive the wreck of SS Andrea Doria and his photos of the ship were published in Life magazine in August 1956.Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, [https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/23/home/matthiessen-meridian.html Book review] of Blue Meridian: The Search for the Great White Shark by Peter Matthiessen, New York Times, April 23, 1971 He produced two documentaries about the ship The Mystery of the Andrea Doria and Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter. He opened the safe of the Andrea Doria on live television in August 1984 at the New York Aquarium.
Gimbel also directed and produced the 1971 film Blue Water, White Death which was the first cinematic filming of great white shark, featuring Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor, Rodney Fox, Stan Waterman and Peter Lake.IMDb: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146496/ "Blue Water, White Death"]IMDb: [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0482180/ "Peter Lake"] The shark's attack on Lake's cage at the end of the film inspired Peter Benchley's book, Jaws.Thom Benson, [http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_131870.asp "Famous Shark Cage To Be Unveiled At Aquarium Sunday"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223165439/http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_131870.asp |date=2011-12-23 }}, Chattanoogan.com, July 21, 2008
Personal life
Gimbel married three times.{{Cite web|last=Diliberto |first=Gioia |title=What Will Adventurers Peter Gimbel and Elga Andersen Dive into Next? Movies!|publisher=People|date=November 2, 1981|url=http://people.com/archive/what-will-adventurers-peter-gimbel-and-elga-andersen-dive-into-next-movies-vol-16-no-18/}} His first wife was socialite Mary Bailey with whom he had two children, Peter Bailey Gimbel and Leslie Gimbel Goldman{{Cite news|date=1981-05-24|title=Claudia V. Mohr Engaged to Bailey Gimbel|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/style/claudia-v-mohr-engaged-to-bailey-gimbel.html|access-date=2022-02-13|issn=0362-4331}} (Bailey remarried to director Sidney Lumet).{{Cite web|title=Claudia V. Mohr Engaged to Bailey Gimbel|work=New York Times|date=May 24, 1981|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/style/claudia-v-mohr-engaged-to-bailey-gimbel.html}} His second wife was model Virginia Taylor.{{Cite news|title=Peter Gimbel to Wed Mrs. Virginia Taylor|work=New York Times|date=24 May 1960|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/05/24/archives/peter-gimbel-to-wed-mrs-virginia-taylor.html}} In 1978, he married actress Elga Andersen.
Death
Peter Gimbel succumbed to cancer on July 12, 1987, at the age of 60.{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/7bb6f7d5520a75a117bccfcb9e9fc2a5|title=Peter Gimbel Dead at 59|website=Associated Press News }}
References
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{{Underwater diving|unddiv}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gimbel, Peter}}
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:American underwater divers
Category:Place of death missing
Category:American underwater photographers