Carl Ronald Boenish (/ˈbeɪnɪʃ/ BAY-nish;[2] April 3, 1941 – July 7, 1984), considered the father of modern BASE jumping,[3] was an American freefall cinematographer, who in 1978 filmed the first jumps from El Capitan using ram-air parachutes.

[4] Boenish's cinematography work included the 1969 John Frankenheimer parachuting film classic The Gypsy Moths, starring Burt Lancaster and Gene Hackman, and a National Geographic Explorer segment on jumps from El Capitan.

His life and death is the subject of the 2015 documentary film by Marah Strauch, Sunshine Superman.

[5] Boenish was a Christian Scientist and had an improperly-set broken leg that hampered his walk.

[6][7] Boenish died in a BASE jump off the Stabben pinnacle in Trolltindane range (not Troll Wall proper)[8] in Rauma, Møre og Romsdal, Norway, the day after completing a successful double BASE jump with his wife, Jean Boenish, for a Guinness World Records television special hosted by David Frost and young Kathie Lee Johnson, now Kathie Lee Gifford.