Elmer Bernstein | |
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 Bernstein guest conducting theU.S. Air Force Band in 1981 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1922-04-04)April 4, 1922 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 18, 2004(2004-08-18) (aged 82) Ojai, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Film scores |
| Occupations |
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| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1951–2004 |
Spouses | |
Elmer Bernstein (/ˈbɜːrnstiːn/BURN-steen; April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004)[1][2] was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 originalfilm scores, as well as scores for nearly 80 television productions.[3] For his work, he received anAcademy Award forThoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and aPrimetime Emmy Award. He also received sevenGolden Globe Awards, fiveGrammy Awards, and twoTony Award nominations.
He composed and arranged scores for over 100 film scores, includingSudden Fear (1952),The Man with the Golden Arm (1955),The Ten Commandments (1956),Sweet Smell of Success (1957),The Magnificent Seven (1960),To Kill a Mockingbird (1962),The World of Henry Orient (1964),The Great Escape (1963),Hud (1963),Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967),True Grit (1969),My Left Foot (1989),The Grifters (1990),Cape Fear (1991),Twilight (1998), andFar from Heaven (2002). He is known for his work on the comedic filmsAnimal House (1978),Meatballs (1979),Airplane! (1980),The Blues Brothers (1980),Stripes (1981),Trading Places (1983),Ghostbusters (1984),Spies Like Us (1985), andThree Amigos (1986).
He also worked on frequent collaborations with directorsMartin Scorsese,Robert Mulligan,John Landis,Ivan Reitman,John Sturges,Bill Duke,George Roy Hill,Richard Fleischer,John Frankenheimer, andHenry Hathaway.
Bernstein was born to a Jewish family[2] in New York City, the son of Selma (née Feinstein, 1901–1991), fromUkraine, and Edward Bernstein (1896–1968), fromAustria-Hungary.[4]
He was not related to fellow composer and conductorLeonard Bernstein, though they were friends.[5] Within the world of professional music, they were distinguished from each other by the use of the nicknamesBernstein West (Elmer) andBernstein East (Leonard), based on their bases of operation: East for New York City, West for Hollywood and Los Angeles.[6] They also pronounced their surnames differently; Elmer pronounced his name "BERN-steen", and Leonard used "BERN-styne".
During his childhood, Bernstein performed professionally as a dancer and an actor, in the latter case playing the part ofCaliban inThe Tempest onBroadway, and he also won several prizes for his painting. He attended Manhattan's progressiveWalden School and gravitated toward music. At the age of 12 he was awarded a piano scholarship by Henriette Michelson, aJuilliard teacher who guided him throughout his entire career as a pianist. She took him to play some of his improvisations for composerAaron Copland, who was encouraging and selectedIsrael Citkowitz as a teacher for the young boy.[7]
Bernstein was drafted into theUnited States Army Air Forces during theWorld War II era where he wrote music for theArmed Forces Radio.
Elmer Bernstein's music has some stylistic similarities to Copland's music, most notably in his western scores, particularly sections ofBig Jake, in the Gregory Peck filmAmazing Grace and Chuck, and in his spirited score for the 1958 film adaptation ofErskine Caldwell's novelGod's Little Acre.
He had a lifelong enthusiasm for an even wider spectrum of the arts than his childhood interests would imply and, in 1959, when he was scoringThe Story on Page One, he considered becoming a novelist and asked the film's screenwriter,Clifford Odets, to give him lessons in writing fiction.
| External audio | |
|---|---|
 You may hear Elmer Bernstein's Theme Song for the movieThe Magnificent Seven performed in 1960Here on archive.org |
Bernstein wrote the theme songs or other music for more than 200 films and TV shows, includingThe Magnificent Seven,The Great Escape,The Ten Commandments (1956),Johnny Staccato (1959 TV theme and Capitol Records album) received little attention in the US but the single went to number four in Britain,True Grit,The Man with the Golden Arm,To Kill a Mockingbird,Robot Monster,Ghostbusters,Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), and the fanfare used in theNational Geographic television specials.[7]
His theme forThe Magnificent Seven is also familiar to television viewers, as it was used in commercials forMarlboro cigarettes. Bernstein also provided the score to many of the short films ofRay and Charles Eames.
In 1961 Bernstein co-foundedÄva Records, an American record label based in Los Angeles together withFred Astaire, Jackie Mills and Tommy Wolf.
In addition to his film music, Bernstein wrote the scores for twoBroadway musicals,How Now, Dow Jones, with lyricist Carolyn Leigh, in 1967 andMerlin, with lyricistDon Black, in 1983.[8]
One of Bernstein's tunes has since gained a lasting place in U.S. college sports culture. In 1968,University of South Carolinafootball head coachPaul Dietzel wrote new lyrics to "Step to the Rear", fromHow Now, Dow Jones. The South Carolina version of the tune, "The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way", has been the school's fight song ever since.
Along with many other artists inHollywood, Bernstein faced censure during theMcCarthy era of the early 1950s. Bernstein was called by theHouse Un-American Activities Committee when it was discovered that he had written some music reviews for a Communist newspaper. After he refused to name names, pointing out that he had never attended a Communist Party meeting, he found himself composing music for movies such asRobot Monster andCat-Women of the Moon, a step down from his earlierSudden Fear andSaturday's Hero.[7][9]
John Landis grew up near Bernstein, and befriended him through his children. Years later, he requested that Bernstein compose the music forNational Lampoon's Animal House, over the studio's objections. He explained to Bernstein that he thought that Bernstein's score, playing it straight as if the comedic Delta frat characters were actual heroes, would emphasize the comedy further.
The opening theme of the film is based upon a slight inversion of a secondary theme fromBrahms'sAcademic Festival Overture. Bernstein accepted the job, and it sparked a second wave in his career, where he continued to compose music for high-profile comedies such asGhostbusters,Stripes,Airplane! andThe Blues Brothers, as well as most of Landis's films for the next 15 years, includingAn American Werewolf in London,Trading Places, and themusic video to theMichael Jackson song "Thriller".
| External audio | |
|---|---|
| You may hear Elmer Bernstein's music for the movieThe Age of Innocence performed by theLondon Philharmonic in 1993Here on archive.org |
WhenMartin Scorsese announced that he was re-makingCape Fear, Bernstein adaptedBernard Herrmann's original score tothe new film. Bernstein leapt at the opportunity to work with Scorsese, as well as to pay homage to Herrmann.[10] Scorsese and Bernstein subsequently worked together on two more films,The Age of Innocence (1993) andBringing Out the Dead (1999). Bernstein had previously conducted Herrmann's original unused score forAlfred Hitchcock's 1966Torn Curtain.[11]
Having studied composition underAaron Copland,Roger Sessions, andStefan Wolpe, Bernstein also performed as a concert pianist between 1939 and 1950 and wrote numerous classical compositions, including three orchestral suites, two song cycles, various compositions for viola and piano and for solo piano, and a string quartet.
As president of the Young Musicians Foundation, Bernstein became acquainted with classical guitaristChristopher Parkening and wrote a Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which Parkening recorded with theLondon Symphony Orchestra under Bernstein's baton for the Angel label in 1999. In addition, Bernstein was a professor at theUniversity of Southern California'sThornton School of Music and conductor of theSan Fernando Valley Symphony in the early 1970s.[12]
Bernstein was married three times, first to Rhoda Federgreen. Their marriage lasted from 1942 to 1946.[13] Bernstein's second wife was Pearl Glusman, whom he wed inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 21, 1946.[14][15] After the couple's divorce in 1965, Bernstein married Eve Adamson. They remained together for 39 years, until his death.[15]
In the 1960s, Bernstein was an owner in the Triad StableThoroughbred racing partnership, named for amusic term. His partners included his assistant, Robert Helfer, and the wife of the Triad Stable's trainer Morton Lipton.[16]
The Bernsteins in the 1990s resided inHope Ranch, a suburb ofSanta Barbara, California.[10] Later, they moved to a home inOjai, California, where Bernstein died of cancer on August 18, 2004.[17] His publicist Cathy Mouton simply stated at the time that Bernstein had died following a lengthy illness.[15][18] He was survived by his wife Eve and their two daughters, Emilie and Elizabeth; by his two sons,Peter and Gregory Bernstein, from his earlier marriage to Pearl Glusman; and by five grandchildren.[15][18]
Bernstein considered these artists as influences on his work:Benny Goodman,Count Basie,Dimitri Tiomkin,Duke Ellington,Erich Wolfgang Korngold,Franz Waxman,Miklós Rózsa,Jimmie Lunceford,Max Steiner,Victor Young,Aaron Copland,Bernard Herrmann,Nino Rota,Roger Sessions,Stefan Wolpe.
Composers who have acknowledged the influence of Bernstein's work on their own includeJames Newton Howard,[19]Alan Silvestri,Georges Delerue,Howard Shore,John Barry,Lalo Schifrin,Dick Hyman,Hans Zimmer,James Horner,Jerry Goldsmith,John Williams,Trevor Jones,Mark Isham,Bear McCreary,Ennio Morricone,Danny Elfman,Alan Menken,Randy Newman, andRandy Edelman.[citation needed]
Over the course of his career, Bernstein won anAcademy Award, anEmmy Award, and twoGolden Globe Awards.[21] In addition, he was nominated for theTony Award three times[8] and aGrammy Award five times. He received 14 Academy Award nominations and was nominated at least once per decade from the 1950s until the 2000s, but his only win was forThoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score. Bernstein was recognized by theHollywood Foreign Press Association with Golden Globes for his scores forTo Kill a Mockingbird andHawaii. In 1963, he won thePrimetime Emmy Award for his score ofThe Making of The President 1960. He is the recipient ofWestern Heritage Awards forThe Magnificent Seven (1960) andThe Hallelujah Trail (1965).[21]
Additional honors includedlifetime achievement awards from theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), theSociety for the Preservation of Film Music, the US, Woodstock, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Flanders International Film Festivals and the Foundation for a Creative America. In 1996, Bernstein was honored with a star onHollywood Boulevard.[22][23] In 1999, he received an honorary Doctorate of Music fromFive Towns College in New York and was honored by theAmerican Film Institute in Los Angeles. Bernstein again was honored by ASCAP with its marquee Founders Award in 2001[22] and with the NARAS Governors Award in June 2004. Bernstein was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised byMichael Aspel at London'sRoyal Albert Hall, after conducting theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of his 80th year celebrations.[citation needed]
His scores forThe Magnificent Seven andTo Kill a Mockingbird were ranked by theAmerican Film Institute as the eighth and seventeenth greatest American film scores of all time, respectively, on the list ofAFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. Bernstein,Bernard Herrmann,Max Steiner, andJerry Goldsmith are the only composers to have two scores listed, and are therefore in second place for the most scores on the list, behindJohn Williams, who has three. Other Bernstein film scores nominated for the list are as follows:The Age of Innocence (1993),Far from Heaven (2002),The Great Escape (1963),Hawaii (1966),The Man with the Golden Arm (1955),Summer and Smoke (1961),Sweet Smell of Success (1957),The Ten Commandments (1956), andWalk on the Wild Side (1962).
Elmer Bernstein, pronounced 'Burn-steen'...
Composer James Newton Howard, who wrote the score for "The Sixth Sense," "The Fugitive" and other films, told The Times in 2001 that he regarded Bernstein among the most influential of composers. 'With his scores, one never has the feeling that the music is working too hard,' Howard said. 'Somehow, he has always been able to achieve gigantic effect with the most gentle and graceful gestures.'
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