Peter Gimbel

Who was Peter Gimbel?

Peter R. Gimbel was an American filmmaker and underwater photojournalist.

Born in New York City, Peter was the son of Bernard Gimbel and heir to the Gimbels department store chain. After serving in the United States Army occupation force in Japan in 1946-1947, he graduated from Yale University in 1951, earning degrees in both English and economics. He spent ten years as an investment banker but after the death of his twin brother at age 29, he left banking to pursue a career in exploration. He parachuted into the Peruvian Andes with G. Brooks Baekeland and Peter Lake in search of the lost Inca city of Vilcabamba.

He was the first to dive the wreck of the SS Andrea Doria and his photos of the ship were published in Life magazine in August 1956. He produced two documentaries about the ship The Mystery of the Andrea Doria and Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter. He opened the safe of the Andrea Doria on live television in 1984.

Gimbel also directed and produced the 1971 film Blue Water, White Death which was the first cinematic filming of the Great White Shark, featuring Ron and Valerie Taylor, Rodney Fox, Stan Waterman and Peter Lake.