Herman F. Zimmerman (born 19 April 1935) is an

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

and

production designer In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...

. He is probably best known for his work on ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

''.

Career

Zimmerman initially aspired to be an actor and enrolled at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

to study acting and directing. He then changed his major to theatre production, in order to take an assistantship in technical theatre. Zimmerman then became an associate professor of drama at Northwestern University for 5 years, where he was a

Technical Director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the technical aspect ...

and Scene Designer for the university's theatre. Zimmerman began working for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in 1965, as an assistant art director on ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

''. Zimmerman has worked on a project with the Institute for Creative Technologies in Southern California, called the "Experience Learning System", which was commissioned by the US Army. Throughout the 1970s, Zimmerman served as an

on several of

Sid and Marty Krofft Sid Krofft (born July 30, 1929) and Marty Krofft (April 9, 1937 – November 25, 2023), known as The Krofft Brothers and born as Cydus and Moshopopoulos Yolas, were a Canadian sibling team of television creators, writers and puppeteers. Through ...

s' shows, including ''

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters ''Sigmund and the Sea Monsters'' is an American children's television series that ran from September 8, 1973, to October 18, 1975, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and aired on Saturday mornings. It was syndicated by itself from December 1975 to ...

'', ''

Land of the Lost Land of the Lost may refer to: Film and television Film * Land of the Lost (film), ''Land of the Lost'' (film), a 2009 American comedy * ''The Land of the Lost'', a 1914 film starring Arthur Donaldson (actor), Arthur Donaldson * ''The Land of the ...

'', ''

Far Out Space Nuts ''Far Out Space Nuts'' is a Sid and Marty Krofft children's television series that aired in 1975 for one season, and produced 15 episodes. It was one of only two Krofft series produced exclusively for CBS (the second being 1984's ''Pryor's Plac ...

'', '' The Lost Saucer'', and '' Donny and Marie''.

''Star Trek''

Zimmerman began working in the ''Star Trek'' franchise when he was hired to work on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', where he served as production designer during the first season, leaving to work on the feature film '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''. Zimmerman worked as production designer on five additional ''Star Trek'' feature films: '' The Undiscovered Country'', ''

Generations A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. Generation or generations may also refer to: Science and technology * Generation (particle physics), a division of the elementary particles * Genera ...

'', '' First Contact'', ''

Insurrection Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

'' and ''

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

''. Zimmerman was also the production designer for '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', for which he received four

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nominations, and ''

Star Trek: Enterprise ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', originally titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001 to May 13, 200 ...

'', which was his final work for the ''Star Trek'' franchise.

Awards and nominations

Zimmerman won the

Art Directors Guild Awards 1996 The 1st Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards, honoring the best production designers in film, television and media of 1996, were held in 1997. Winners and nominees Film Television Special Achievement Award * Gene All ...

's ''Excellence in Production Design Award - Television'' for his work on ''Deep Space Nine''. Zimmerman's first Emmy nomination, for the pilot episode, "

Emissary Emissary may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment Star Trek * Benjamin Sisko, the Emissary of the Prophets, the Bajorans' gods * "Emissary" (''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''), the pilot episode of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' * "The Em ...

", was shared with art director Randy McIlvain and set decorator Mickey S. Michaels. Zimmerman's next three nominations – for "

Trials and Tribble-ations "Trials and Tribble-ations" is the 104th episode of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', the sixth episode of the fifth season. It was written as a tribute to the original series of ''Star Trek,'' in ...

", "

Far Beyond the Stars "Far Beyond the Stars" is the 137th episode of the syndicated science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', the 13th episode of season6. The teleplay was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler, based on a story by Ma ...

" and " Prodigal Daughter" – were shared with McIlvain and set decorator Laura Richarz.

References

External links

* 1935 births Living people American people of German descent American production designers American art directors Northwestern University School of Communication alumni {{US-tv-bio-stub