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Elmer Bernstein

Personal Profile

Elmer Bernstein
  • Date of Birth:
    April 4, 1922
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Aries
  • Place of Birth:
    New York City
  • Place of Death:
    Ojai, California, USA
  • Date of Death:
    August 18, 2004
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American

Family

Elmer Bernstein
  • Spouse:
    Pearl Glusman - Divorced
    Eve Adamson -

Career

Elmer Bernstein

Awards

Elmer Bernstein

Academy Award, Emmy Award, Golden Globe

1999 : Honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in New York

Trivia

Elmer Bernstein
  • He received 14 Academy Award nominations, nominated at least once per decade from the 1950s thru 2000s, but his only win was for Thoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score.
  • Bernstein was recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with Golden Globes for his scores for To Kill a Mockingbird and Hawaii.
  • He received five Grammy nominations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and garnered two Tony Award nominations for the Broadway musicals How Now Dow Jones and Merlin.
  • In 1996, Bernstein was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
  • In addition to his film music, Bernstein wrote the scores for two Broadway musicals: How Now, Dow Jones in 1968 and Merlin in 1983.
  • He was famous for composing music for The Ten Commandments, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Meatballs, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Ghostbusters.
  • Was nominated for three Tony Awards: two in 1968 for "How Now, Dow Jones." as Best Composer and Lyricist, with his collaborator Carolyn Leigh, and for his music as part of a Best Musical nomination; and in 1983 for "Merlin," as Best Score, his music with lyrics by Don Black.
  • He is the only individual to be nominated for an Academy Award in each of the last six decades: the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s
  • Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 35-37. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
  • Bernstein wrote unused scores for Last Man Standing, The Journey of Natty Gann, The Scarlet Letter and Gangs of New York. All have been released on CD.

Biography

Elmer Bernstein
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II. A prolific and respected film music composer, he was a protege of Aaron Copland who studied music with Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe. He worked in various artistic endeavors including painting and the theatre. He performed not only as a pianist but as an acting-dancing performer as well.

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 film styles, with his ground-breaking jazz score for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), light musical comedies such as his Oscar-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) score and perhaps his most familiar, the Western film, The Magnificent Seven (1960).

A few years before before his death, he acquired something of a cult status amongst fans of the England football team when his familiar main theme for The Great Escape (1963) was adopted by them and hummed and played, lustily, during matches.

Filmography

Elmer Bernstein

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