Merritt Brindley Edward Gerstad (July 5, 1900 â March 1, 1974) was an American cinematographer of silent and early sound films.
Merritt B. Gerstad was born in Chicago on July 5, 1900.
After beginning as a cinematographer on films for Universal, he worked for MGM, working with director Tod Browning on (the lost) London After Midnight (1927) and Freaks (1932), and Sam Wood on the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera (1935). Later he was at Warner Bros. for Watch on the Rhine (1943) starring Bette Davis, Conflict (1945) with Humphrey Bogart in the lead, and the Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945), his last credit.
He died in Orange County, California on March 1, 1974, and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.