Bill Wistrom

William H. Wistrom, better known as Bill Wistrom, served as Supervising Sound Editor for all four of the live-action Star Trek spin-off series, beginning with the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He left TNG after to work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and left that series after the first three seasons to work on all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. He then became Supervising Sound Editor for all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise.

Before working on Star Trek's television franchise, Wistrom did temporary work on and. He also received special thanks in. Outside of canon productions, Wistrom was the Supervising Sound Editor for the video games Star Trek: Borg and Star Trek: Klingon.

Career
Wistrom started working in the mail room at Paramount Studios in 1953, transferring to Paramount's film shipping department. In 1955, he was an apprentice editor on The Desperate Hours and The Ten Commandments and became a union editor later that year. Wistrom's early work as a sound editor for Paramount also included the Alfred Hitchcock films To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo, as well as such classics as The Court Jester, The Nutty Professor, and El Dorado.

In 1959, Wistrom began working steadily on the western TV series Bonanza, the first major television series filmed at Paramount. From 1967 through 1971, he worked simultaneously on Bonanza and another western series, The High Chaparral (on which Henry Darrow and Robert F. Hoy were regulars). He remained with Bonanza until the series ended in 1973. From there, he worked on The Waltons until 1975.

In 1975, Wistrom joined Glen Glenn Sound, the company which had provided sound effects for Star Trek: The Original Series years earlier. At Glen Glenn Sound, he worked on many other television projects, including Kojak, several Columbo specials, and numerous TV movies. Wistrom also continued to do films, including The Wind and the Lion (featuring Brian Keith and Roy Jenson, with music by Jerry Goldsmith), The Muppet Movie (featuring music by Paul Williams), and Raise the Titanic (featuring performances by Paul Carr, Stewart Moss, and Michael Ensign, cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti, and editing by Robert F. Shugrue). Later, Wistrom and fellow Star Trek sound editor Jim Wolvington worked together on the MGM film Where the River Runs Black, for which they supervised the first all-digital sound editing job.

From 1981 through 1987, Wistrom was the Supervising Sound Editor on Falcon Crest (starring Robert Foxworth), but left that series to return to Paramount and apply his trade on TNG. During the 1990s, Wistrom and other members of his Star Trek sound team worked on various non-Trek projects, including the films Ski Patrol (starring Leslie Jordan and Ray Walston), Zandalee (featuring Ian Abercrombie), and The Only Thrill (featuring Sharon Lawrence).

Wistrom chose to retire after Paramount canceled Enterprise in 2005, having worked as a sound editor for fifty years. In 2008 MPSE (Motion Picture Sound Editors) honored Wistrom with its Career Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments over the course of his five-decade career.

Star Trek interviews

 * TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Inside the Star Trek Archives" ("Editors win Emmys"), interviewed on
 * TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Select Historical Data Year Six" ("Timeless Sound Effects"), interviewed on 14 March 2002

Emmy Awards
Wistrom has earned a total of seventeen Emmy Award nominations, ten of which were for his work on the various Star Trek shows. Of those seventeen nominations, he won six – including four for his work on TNG. All awards and nominations were shared with the sound editing department he was working with at the time.


 * Friendly Fire (1979 TV movie) - Won
 * Evita Peron (1981 TV movie) - Nominated
 * Inside the Third Reich (1982 TV movie) - Won
 * The Capture of Grizzly Adams (1982 TV movie) - Nominated
 * Falcon Crest episode "Ashes to Ashes" (1984) - Nominated
 * Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (1984 TV movie) - Nominated
 * Fresno, Part VI (1986) - Nominated
 * Emmy Award for the episode, shared with Wilson Dyer, Mace Matiosian, James Wolvington, Gerry Sackman, and Keith Bilderbeck
 * Emmy Award for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Mace Matiosian, Wilson Dyer, Guy Tsujimoto, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Mace Matiosian, Wilson Dyer, Gerry Sackman, and Rick Freeman
 * Emmy Award for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Mace Matiosian, Wilson Dyer, Masanobu Tomita, Dan Yale, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Wilson Dyer, Masanobu Tomita, Dan Yale, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Miguel Rivera, Masanobu Tomita, Guy Tsujimoto, Jeff Gersh, Dan Yale, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Ashley Harvey, Miguel Rivera, Jeff Gersh, Sean Callery, Steffan Falesitch, and Stephen M. Rowe
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Ashley Harvey, Dale Chaloukian, Jeff Gersh, Masanobu Tomita, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Ashley Harvey, Masanobu Tomita, Dale Chaloukian, and Gerry Sackman
 * Emmy Award nomination for the episode, shared with James Wolvington, Ashley Harvey, Masanobu Tomita, Dale Chaloukian, Shaun Varney, Stephen M. Rowe, Hilda Hodges, and Katherine Rose

Personal life
Wistrom was born in Los Angeles, California on 20 December 1935. He died in Santa Clarita, California, on 10 March 2010. He was 74 years old.

External link


Bill Wistrom