Jerry Ziesmer

About Jerry Ziesmer

Who is it?: Assistant Director, Actor, Production Manager
Birth Day: May 19, 1931
Birth Place:  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Birth Sign: Gemini

Jerry Ziesmer Net Worth

Jerry Ziesmer was born on May 19, 1931 in  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, is Assistant Director, Actor, Production Manager. Grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and acted in little theaters in the Milwaukee area. After acting with Ethel Waters in a touring company of "The Member of the Wedding", he went to the High School Institute at Northwestern University, in Illinois, and studied under acting coach Alvina Krause (whose other students included Charlton Heston, Jennifer Jones, Richard Benjamin, and Karen Black). He then pursued an acting career in Hollywood, while getting a master's degree at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles. In 1967, he was accepted into the Assistant Director training program from the Directors Guild and the Motion Picture Producers Association, and graduated in 1969.
Jerry Ziesmer is a member of Assistant Director

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Biography/Timeline

1957

Jerry Ziesmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a postal employee and his wife, who was the daughter of Dutch immigrants. He graduated on a scholarship from Milwaukee's Rufus King High School in 1957. He received a bachelor's degree in acting from Northwestern University in 1961. After graduation he moved to Beverly Hills and took a job as a United States Post Office employee and later, a part-time junior high school Teacher. In 1964 he married Mary Kate Denny, with whom he had three children. He later obtained a master's degree from UCLA. He received a Directors Guild training certificate for assistant Directors in 1969, applying to the program after reading an advertisement in Variety.

1981

In 1981, Ziesmer re-met and began dating his high school girlfriend and 1957 prom date, Suzanne. They married in 1982. Suzanne joined him on-set, tutoring actors including Mel Gibson.

1987

Ziesmer served on the council of the Directors Guild of America from 1987 to 1998, for three years as the chair. He helped establish a mentorship program for women and minority Directors. For many years he and his wife, Suzanne, taught an Assistant Director’s course at UCLA's Extension school. In 2006, he won the DGA's "Frank Capra Achievement Award", a career award given to assistant Directors.

2000

In 2000 Ziesmer wrote a memoir, Ready when You Are, Mr. Coppola, Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Crowe, that includes the most complete account of the production of Apocalypse Now.