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Charles Correll, ASC (23 January 19444 June 2004; age 60) was the director of photography for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In addition to this, he made a brief appearance in the movie – as the Spacedock worker who watches the USS Enterprise being stolen – after asking director Leonard Nimoy for a cameo. Correll was interviewed for the Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Special Edition DVD.

Correll was a cinematographer for roughly fourteen years, earning an Emmy Award for his work on the 1983 mini-series The Winds of War. He then became a television director, directing episodes of such series as MacGyver, Melrose Place, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Personal life[]

Correll was born in Los Angeles County, California. His father was radio personality Charles J. Correll, best known for playing Andy Brown on the long-running Amos 'n' Andy radio program.

Correll married Star Trek III stand-in Robin Kellick on 4 August 1984, and they had three children together. Correll died of pancreatic cancer in Tarzana, California, at the age of 60.

Career[]

Cinematography[]

Correll was the Director of Photography on Animal House (1978, featured Bruce McGill). Correll worked on two subsequent National Lampoon films, National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1982) and The Joy of Sex (1984). He worked with Star Trek III actor Christopher Lloyd on both of these latter films. Other films for which Correll directed photography include Fast Break (1979; featuring K Callan and Bert Remsen), Nice Dreams (1981), and Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987; featuring James Cromwell and Ed Lauter).

He was the Director of Photography on several television projects, as well. One of his earliest was the 1975 Columbo episode "Forgotten Lady", which was directed by Harvey Hart. Some of his other episodic TV credits include Kojak (where he replaced Jerry Finnerman) and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. He and Jim Dickson were both Directors of Photography on The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978, directed by Leo Penn and starring René Auberjonois and Norman Lloyd). Correll and Leo Penn previously collaborated on the television series Kojak and Switch. They worked together one last time on the 1981 TV movie Hellinger's Law.

In addition, Correll collaborated with director Lou Antonio on four different made-for-TV movies: 1978's The Critical List (which featured Joanne Linville, Scott Marlowe, James Whitmore, Jr., and Noble Willingham) and A Real American Hero (written by Samuel A. Peeples), 1981's The Star Maker (which featured art direction by Herman F. Zimmerman), and 1990's Face to Face (starring Robert Foxworth). The latter was Correll's final project as a cinematographer.

In 1983, Correll won an Emmy Award for his cinematography on the mini-series The Winds of War. He later received an Emmy nomination for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985, starring Alice Krige). Correll's other TV movie credits have included Freedom Road (featuring Alfre Woodard), The Greatest American Traffic Jam (featuring James Gregory, Larry A. Hankin, Charles Napier, and Victor Tayback), Missing Pieces (featuring Robin Gammell, Kurtwood Smith, and Kenneth Tigar), The Jesse Owens Story (featuring LeVar Burton, Ronny Cox, James B. Sikking, Vic Tayback, and Ben Vereen), and Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (directed by Vincent McEveety and featuring Ken Olandt and W. Morgan Sheppard).

Directing[]

In the late 1980s, Correll decided to retire as a cinematographer and begin working as a director. Among the many television series for which he directed are MacGyver, Law & Order, Stargate SG-1, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and Without a Trace.

External links[]

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