‘Star Trek’ sound whiz had 14 Emmy nominations and won five
Douglas Grindstaff, an Emmy Award-winning sound editor who was pivotal in the creation of the indelible whistles, beeps and hums in the original “Star Trek” television series, died July 23 in Peoria, Ariz. He was 87.
Mr. Grindstaff had numerous sound credits to his name, including the “Mission: Impossible” television series, “Max Headroom” and “Dallas.” But it was his work in helping to bring the Starship Enterprise to life that had the most lasting impact, on decades of sciencefiction films and TV shows and generations of Trekkies.
There was the whoosh of the automatic doors opening on the spaceship’s bridge, the gentle coos of furry Tribbles in one of the show’s most famous episodes, and the unsettling wail of sirens when it was time to shift to red alert — not to mention the growl of the cartoonish reptilian alien Gorn (pieced together using, in part, the sound of vomiting) and the high-pitched tinkling of a transporter beam.
The control panel bleeps and bloops provided a familiar ambience for “Star Trek” while the stars of the show — William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and DeForest Kelley (Dr. LeonardMcCoy) — provided its heart and soul.
Mr. Grindstaff had been working as an audio editor at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio in Hollywood in 1965 when Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” sought his help.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Mr. Grindstaff said in 2012. “I had no idea what ‘Star Trek’ would turn out to be.”
He went to work with other sound editors, including Joseph Sorokin and Jack Finlay.
For Mr. Roddenberry, how the show sounded was essential. Mr. Grindstaff recalled that on arriving for work one morning “the secretary gave me 11 pages of notes that he had dictated to her on one episode.”
Mr. Roddenberry wanted a sense of realism, which meant a distinct sound for each section of the Enterprise. The engineering section, for example, had a murmur different from that of the bridge. When Sulu, the helmsman, sent the Enterprise into warp speed, the ship flew off with its own unmistakable whoosh.
“Each place that you went into on the ship had a different tonality and sound to make it clear to the audience where you were, and that hadn’t been done in science fiction,” said Ben Burtt, the sound designer behind many celebrated movies, including the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises.
The robot R2-D2’s beeps in “Star Wars” are the offspring of the console sounds on the Enterprise, he said, and he consulted with Mr. Grindstaff after being hired to work on the 2009 “Star Trek” reboot directed by J.J. Abrams.
Mr. Grindstaff said the most difficult sound effect to create was that of the Tribbles, the multiplying nuisances from “The Trouble With Tribbles.”
“The Tribbles, they would rear up and be mad at you,” he said, “so I’d use a screech owl for that” as well as the sound of a squeaking balloon. In scenes where they were calm, he used the murmuring sound of doves.
Mr. Grindstaff was nominated for an Emmy in 1967 for his work on “Star Trek,” the first of his 14 career nominations.
But as it happened with the original “Star Trek,” most of his critical acclaim came later. (”Star Trek” was canceled after three seasons because of poor ratings, only to win legions of fans after it began appearing in reruns and spawning a film franchise.) He went on to win five Emmys.
He is survived by his wife, Marcia; his children Marla, Charles and Daniel; his stepchildren, Dean Slawson, Eli Slawson and Felicia GradyAllen; 16 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Mr. Grindstaff later became a vice president at Lorimar-Telepictures, the production and distribution company responsible for shows like “Dallas” and “Knots Landing,” and headed sound departments at several major studios, including Paramount and Pacific Sound.