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Five-Time Emmy Winner Who Was a Part of TV’s Original ‘Star Trek’ Dead at 87

Jul 30, 2018  •  Post A Comment

An Emmy Award winner who was a part of the original “Star Trek” TV series of the ’60s has died. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Doug Grindstaff, who “created communicator beeps, Tribble coos and other sound effects employed on the original ‘Star Trek,'” died July 23 in Peoria, Ariz. He was 87.

“Grindstaff served as a vice president at Lorimar-Telepictures, headed sound departments at Paramount, Columbia and Pacific Sound and was president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors, which honored him in 1998 with its Lifetime Achievement Award,” THR reports. “He also was a member of the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”

Grindstaff had a string of Emmy nominations spanning two decades — 14 nominations in all. He won his first Emmy in 1970 for Film Sound Editing on “The Immortal.” He won again in 1976 for “Medical Story,” in 1978 for “Police Story,” in 1980 for “Power” and in 1987 for “Max Headroom.”

His many TV credits also included “Mannix,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Odd Couple,” “Knots Landing” and “Dallas.”

“Working with Jack Finlay and Joseph Sorokin, Grindstaff created the background sounds and effects used on NBC’s ‘Star Trek,'” THR reports. “These sounds included red alert klaxons, the whoosh of Enterprise bridge doors opening/closing, heartbeats, boatswain whistles, sickbay scanners and communicator beeps and the acoustics that invoked phasers striking deflector shields and transporter materialization (and dematerialization).”

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