Known for exciting jazz and adventurous orchestral scores, Elmer Bernstein ranked among the top feature film composers over a 50-year career until his death aged 82 in 2004. One of the most prolific composers in Hollywood, he has over 200 credits to his name for a wide range of movies, television shows, songs and theatrical productions.
Born in New York, Bernstein learned to play the piano as a child and performed at the age of 15 at Steinway Hall. He studied composition and he worked on radio shows while doing military service in the US Army Air Force during World War II. Upon his return to civilian life, he wrote scores for commercial radio until his service connections helped him win his first job as a film composer for an American Football drama titled 'Saturday's Hero' in 1951. A Joan Crawford thriller, 'Sudden Fear' (1952) raised his profile but work became scarce for a while due to his leftwing political views during the repressive McCarthy era.
That period ended for good when Otto Preminger hired him to write the music for his film 'The Man With the Golden Arm' (1955) starring Frank Sinatra as a drug-addicted musician; Bernstein's highly praised jazz score earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Subsequent jazz soundtracks included 'The Sweet Smell of Success' (1957), 'The Rat Race' (1960) and 'Walk On the Wild Side' (1962), from which a single with the same title recorded by Jimmy Smith and The Big Band went to number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. He wrote jazz themes for the John Cassavetes television crime series 'Johnny Staccato' (1959) and his track 'Staccato's Theme' peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart in 1959.
Cecil B. De Mille hired Bernstein to write the music for his biblical epic 'The Ten Commandments' (1956) and his career was set. Over the decades he also wrote music for many television shows including 'Riverboat' (1959), 'The Rookies' (1972) and 'Serpico' (1976). His theatre work included Tony Award-nominated Broadway musicals 'How Now Down Jones' (1967) and 'Merlin' (1982). Jack Jones's recording of the title song from 'Love With the Proper Stranger' (1964) made the Billboard Hot 100, Glen Yarborough's single of the title song from 'Baby, the Rain Must Fall' (1965) went to number 12 and Glen Campbell's song 'True Grit' from the 1969 Western he co-starred in with John Wayne reached number 35. Bernstein's 'Ghostbusters' score peaked at number six on the Billboard Albums Chart in 1984. He had 14 Academy Award nominations with one win for the score to the musical feature film 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' (1967). His final film was Todd Haynes's drama 'Far from Heaven' (2002) starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 82.
