Jerry Ziesmer. Second Unit or Assistant Director: Apocalypse Now. 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)....