Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein's early dreams centered on becoming a concert pianist whose career would span the 1940s into the 1960s. His precocious gift for composition, however, together with the arrival of World War II, instead positioned him as a commanding presence in film and popular music for more than forty years and a lasting shaper of American cultural life.

A native of New York City, the young Bernstein displayed an intense passion for music, above all at the piano. Recognized as a prodigy, he drew early encouragement from his instructor to expand on his habit of improvising during performances. He also nurtured a deep engagement with folk traditions that later proved invaluable. At thirteen, his teacher secured an audition with Aaron Copland, whose favorable impression led to lessons with one of Copland's own protégés. Bernstein later attended the Juilliard School, continuing piano studies while beginning formal work in composition under Stefan Wolpe and Roger Sessions in the late 1930s.

Military service during World War II curtailed any immediate path to the concert stage. Assigned to an entertainment unit after being drafted, Bernstein received his first structured chance to create music in uniform. He arranged traditional American songs for Glenn Miller and the United States Army Air Force Band, then composed material for Armed Forces Radio broadcasts. By the time he returned to civilian life he had scored more than eighty programs and was determined to build a career as a composer. Postwar conditions, however, offered shrinking prospects for such work amid shifting entertainment trends.

In 1949 Bernstein received a commission to write the score for a United Nations radio program marking the founding of the State of Israel; NBC carried the broadcast as well. A network executive impressed by the music offered him an assignment for a regular program, which in turn led to a rare invitation to Hollywood during an era of contracting studio budgets. Bernstein reached Los Angeles precisely as the studio system began to erode following the rise of commercial television and the consent decree that compelled studios to divest their theater chains. He found initial employment at smaller majors such as RKO and Columbia as well as independents like Astor Films, where he scored the cult curios Robot Monster and Cat Women of the Moon.

Gradually he advanced to projects at MGM and 20th Century Fox, handling smaller-scale productions. His decisive breakthrough arrived in 1955 with Otto Preminger's The Man With the Golden Arm. The film's frank treatment of drug addiction and its jazz-musician protagonist (Frank Sinatra) opened unusual creative space. Bernstein anchored the score in jazz, producing a landmark soundtrack that became his first to receive commercial release and earned him an Academy Award nomination.

That same year brought a far broader assignment: Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. The religious epic drew massive family audiences across the country and every social level. Bernstein's expansive orchestral score achieved wide popularity, suddenly elevating his name among ordinary viewers alongside veterans Max Steiner and Franz Waxman.

In 1958 Bernstein entered the expanding field of television, contracting with Revue Productions, Universal's television division. Over the following years he supplied main-title music for series including the detective drama Johnny Staccato, which reached the Top Five in England, and Riverboat. He also recorded two light pop-jazz albums, one for Decca in 1956 and another for Capitol in 1960.

A major career landmark followed in 1960 when John Sturges engaged him for The Magnificent Seven. The Western, drawn from Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, enjoyed enduring success in theaters and especially on television. Bernstein wove folk and Western melodic elements into a sweeping orchestral tapestry reminiscent of Aaron Copland or Alfred Newman, imparting a legendary aura to the action. The main-title theme proved so stirring that Marlboro cigarettes licensed it for a long-running series of Western-themed commercials that continued until the end of broadcast cigarette advertising. Though the studio never issued an original soundtrack album until 1999, the theme may rank among the most frequently heard pieces of film music ever composed.

Thereafter Bernstein deliberately sought projects beyond Westerns. His 1960s output encompassed intimate dramas such as To Kill a Mockingbird and vigorous action films including The Great Escape, again directed by Sturges and starring three of the same principals. For The Sons of Katie Elder he supplied a main theme echoing his earlier Riverboat motif, plus atmospheric scoring behind John Wayne's elegiac narration and a song performed by Johnny Cash. Serving as music director on Thoroughly Modern Millie, the Julie Andrews–Mary Tyler Moore musical spoof, brought him his sole Academy Award.

Having worked alongside many senior colleagues during the studio era's final years, Bernstein used his standing in the early 1970s to aid them. He established the Filmusic Collection label and financed recordings of previously unavailable scores, among them Miklos Rozsa's The Thief of Baghdad, Bernard Herrmann's rejected Torn Curtain music, and an expanded edition of his own To Kill a Mockingbird. Television assignments continued, notably the main theme for The Rookies, even as large-scale studio pictures grew scarce.

In 1977 John Landis invited Bernstein to score the comedy Animal House. Though new to the genre, Bernstein followed Landis's directive to apply his customary expansive, thematic approach. The contrast between dignified scoring and physical comedy heightened the film's satirical edge, and its commercial triumph opened an entire category of projects. Subsequent comedies included Airplane, Stripes, Ghostbusters, and Three Amigos!

His stature as the senior active film composer simultaneously restored access to major dramatic works. Martin Scorsese selected him for the 1991 Cape Fear remake, where Bernstein reorchestrated Bernard Herrmann's original themes, and for The Age of Innocence. He also scored Jim Sheridan's The Field and Stephen Frears's The Grifters.

Into the new century Bernstein remained active as composer, conductor, and arranger while continuing to restore and record neglected film scores. His final theatrical score accompanied Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven (2002). He died in his sleep on August 18, 2004, at the age of 82.