Elmer Bernstein(1922-2004)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York
University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A
prolific and respected film music composer, he was a protégé of
Aaron Copland, who studied music with
Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe. Bernstein
worked in various artistic endeavors, including painting and the
theatre and also performed as an actor and dancer. Among his early
composition work were scores for United Nations radio programs and
television and industrial documentaries. His original scores for films
range over an enormous variety of styles, with his groundbreaking jazz
score for
L'homme au bras d'or (1955),
light musical comedies such as his Oscar-winning
Millie (1967)
score, and perhaps his most familiar score, for the western
Les 7 mercenaires (1960). Between 1963 and 1969, Bernstein served as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
A few years before before his death, he acquired something of a cult status among fans of English football when his familiar main theme for La grande évasion (1963) was adopted by them and hummed and played, lustily, during matches.
A few years before before his death, he acquired something of a cult status among fans of English football when his familiar main theme for La grande évasion (1963) was adopted by them and hummed and played, lustily, during matches.
