Jerry Fleck


Gerald "Jerry" R. Fleck was an American assistant director best known for his work on the Star Trek franchise across eleven years.

Early life

Fleck was born in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois to Ed and Joan Fleck. The family moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1955. During his school years, he became Student Government President and within the Boy Scouts of America, he became an Eagle Scout. He performed in school productions, and later joined the Santa Barbara Youth Theater. While at Santa Barbara City College, he won a scholarship to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City.

Career

Following graduation he appeared in several theatrical productions on the East Coast. He joined the production team of Sunn Classic Pictures, working on series such as The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. While on that show, he worked with James L. Conway, who he would later work with on the pilot of ', "Broken Bow |Broken Bow". Working as an assistant director, he worked on television series for other production companies such as Hardcastle and McCormick, The A-Team and Hunter as well as feature films including Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. He joined ' as first assistant director, marking the start of eleven and a half years with the franchise. He continued his work with the series ' and Enterprise as well as the Jonathan Frakes directed films ' and .

Death

Fleck died at his home on September 14, 2003. He was working on pre-production for the Enterprise episode "North Star |North Star". Once news broke, production was shut down on Enterprise on September 15 out of respect. The episode "Extinction |Extinction", which aired 10 days after his death, was dedicated to his memory.