Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor born in New York City to a Jewish family. His mother, Selma, was of Ukrainian origin, and his father, Edward, came from Austria-Hungary. Bernstein was not related to fellow composer Leonard Bernstein, though the two were friends and colleagues who distinguished themselves within professional music circles through the nicknames Bernstein West, for Elmer, and Bernstein East, for Leonard, reflecting their respective bases of operation in Hollywood and New York City.

From an early age, Bernstein demonstrated broad artistic interests, performing professionally as both a dancer and an actor during his childhood, including a stage appearance as Caliban in a Broadway production of The Tempest. He also won prizes for painting. His musical education began in earnest at age twelve, when Henriette Michelson, a Juilliard teacher, awarded him a piano scholarship and guided his development as a pianist throughout his career. She introduced him to composer Aaron Copland, who in turn selected Israel Citkowitz as a teacher for the young Bernstein. He attended the Walden School in Manhattan. During World War II, Bernstein served in the United States Army Air Forces, where he composed music for the Armed Forces Radio.

His film scoring career began at Columbia Pictures in the early 1950s, with the 1952 noir thriller Sudden Fear among his first notable credits. That same year, his career was disrupted when the House Un-American Activities Committee called him before it, having discovered that he had written music reviews for a Communist newspaper. After refusing to name names, Bernstein was greylisted and spent a period scoring low-budget independent productions, including Robot Monster and Cat-Women of the Moon, both from 1953. He also worked as a session musician during this period, serving as rehearsal pianist for the 1955 film Oklahoma.

His standing in Hollywood recovered substantially with his jazz-inflected score for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, which premiered in 1955 and earned him the first of fourteen Academy Award nominations. Cecil B. DeMille subsequently hired him to score the 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, a project on which Bernstein ultimately composed two and a half hours of music after being elevated from a limited initial role when DeMille's regular composer, Victor Young, declined due to failing health. The film's success established Bernstein as a leading figure in Hollywood scoring.

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Bernstein composed over 150 original film scores and music for nearly 80 television productions. Among his most recognized works are the scores for The Magnificent Seven (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Great Escape (1963), Hud (1963), True Grit (1969), My Left Foot (1989), The Grifters (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Far from Heaven (2002). His theme for The Magnificent Seven became widely familiar to American television audiences through its use in Marlboro cigarette commercials. He received an Academy Award for his score for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), a Primetime Emmy Award, seven Golden Globe Awards, and five Grammy Awards. In total, he received fourteen Academy Award nominations.

Beginning with National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, Bernstein entered a second productive phase of his career centered on comedic films. Director John Landis, who had grown up near Bernstein and befriended him through his children, specifically requested Bernstein for Animal House over the studio's objections, reasoning that a score played straight would heighten the comedy. The collaboration launched a series of high-profile comedic scores, including Airplane! (1980), The Blues Brothers (1980), Stripes (1981), Trading Places (1983), Ghostbusters (1984), Spies Like Us (1985), and Three Amigos (1986). Bernstein also scored Landis's music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller." He maintained frequent working relationships with directors including Martin Scorsese, Robert Mulligan, John Sturges, Ivan Reitman, George Roy Hill, and John Frankenheimer, among others.

In 1961, Bernstein co-founded Äva Records, a Los Angeles-based record label, together with Fred Astaire, Jackie Mills, and Tommy Wolf. He also composed music for numerous short films by Ray and Charles Eames, and wrote the fanfare used in National Geographic television specials.

Bernstein composed scores for two Broadway musicals. How Now, Dow Jones, with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, opened in 1967 and earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Composer and Lyricist in 1968. Merlin, with lyrics by Don Black, followed in 1983 and brought him a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score. One tune from How Now, Dow Jones, titled "Step to the Rear," acquired an enduring place in American college sports culture after University of South Carolina football coach Paul Dietzel set new lyrics to it in 1968, creating "The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way," which has served as the school's fight song ever since.