Film Music Great Elmer Berstein Dies

Legendary film music composer Elmer Bernstein has died at the age of 82:

Bernstein, whose prolific career spanned seven decades and earned him 14 Academy Award nominations, an Oscar win and an Emmy Award, died in his sleep at his Ojai home Wednesday, said his publicist, Cathy Mouton. He was 82.

Although he won an Oscar only once for the 1967 film “Thoroughly Modern Millie” — considered one of his weaker works — Bernstein was revered for experimenting with various techniques that bolstered the films.

“It’s one thing to write music that reinforces a film, underscores it — the traditional sense of stressing, underlining — or gives it added dramatic muscle,” director Martin Scorsese once said. “It’s entirely another to write music that graces a film. That’s what Elmer Bernstein does, and that, for me, is his greatest gift.”

Among his more notable efforts were the scores for “Some Came Running,” “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “The Great Escape,” “Hawaii,” “The Great Santini,” “Cast a Giant Shadow,” “My Left Foot,” “A River Runs Through It,” “Devil in a Blue Dress” and “The Age of Innocence.” He also composed several works for symphony orchestras.

In addition, he scored such movie classics as “The Ten Commandments,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Great Escape” and “True Grit.” Other credits included “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Airplane!,” “Stripes,” “Meatballs,” “Ghostbusters,” “Trading Places” and “The Rainmaker.”

“Film music, properly done, should give the film a kind of emotional rail on which to ride,” Bernstein told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview. “Without even realizing that you’re listening to music that’s doing something to your emotions, you will have an emotional experience.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird” presented Bernstein quite a challenge. For six weeks he could find no way to approach the story, which concerned racism and the Depression in a small Southern town.

“Then I realized that the film was about these issues but seen through the eyes of children,” he once recalled. “The simple score was played by a small ensemble, at times employing single piano notes, much like a child picking out a tune.”

For “The Man with the Golden Arm,” in which Frank Sinatra played a heroin-addicted jazz musician, he discarded the studio orchestra for a jazz ensemble. For the landmark western “The Magnificent Seven,” Bernstein composed a galloping march that remained famous for years afterward in TV ads for Marlboro cigarettes.

A piano prodigy who studied composing under Aaron Copland in New York, Bernstein moved to Hollywood in 1950 to work on his first movie score, for the football film “Saturday’s Hero.” After a few more routine assignments he made his mark with the moody music for the Joan Crawford thriller “Sudden Fear.”

Although both hailed from New York, he was no relation to the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein.

“That’s a common question,” Mouton said. “They were friends and fellow New Yorkers, but they were not related in any way.”

A supporter of left-wing causes, Bernstein’s career was nearly destroyed by the Hollywood Red Hunt of the 1950s when he was summoned before a congressional subcommittee and told to identify communists in the film industry. He refused, saying he’d never attended a Communist party meeting.

“I wasn’t important enough to be blacklisted, so I was put on a gray list,” he once said. [AP]

Here are some quotes from his very fine webiste:

Los Angeles Jazz Society Honor (excerpts), October 28, 2001 | Arthur Hamilton
“Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t escape from Elmer Bernstein. His music has stirred you, excited you, inspired you, amused you, and kept close company with you for the past fifty years. Kept close with you, your family, and your family’s family—no matter where you live in the world.”

“How is he thought of by the other members of the music community? With deep respect and a lot of envy. Somehow, he has managed to stay on the cutting edge throughout his career. His innovative concept for ‘The Man With The Golden Arm’ was a ground breaking, all-jazz score—and a Hollywood first. Previously, jazz was treated as a specialty item. He proved it could sustain mood for an entire film.”

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Keynote Address at Elmer Bernstein’s ASCAP Honor (excerpts), April 24, 2001 | James Newton Howard
“Really very little need be said about Elmer’s work other than this: He is one of the greatest film composers ever. What Elmer Bernstein has done is create a massive body of work, which includes many definitive examples of film compositional styles. It’s been like a how-to book for up-and-comers like me.”

“Certainly, ‘effortless’ is one of the words which comes to mind when I consider Elmer’s work. With his scores, one never has the feeling that the music is working too hard. Somehow, he has always been able to achieve gigantic effect with the most gentle and graceful gestures. Never has that been put to better use than in his incomparable score to, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.'”

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Martin Scorsese, 2001
“An interviewer once asked me to discuss my collaboration with Elmer Bernstein, and precisely why I chose to work with him. My first thought was: How could I not work with Elmer, when I had the chance? Simply put, he’s the best there is—the very best.”

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“Age of Innocence,” 1993 | Martin Scorsese with Jay Cocks
“It’s one thing to write music that reinforces a film, underscores it—the traditional sense of stressing, underlining—or gives it added dramatic muscle. It’s entirely another to write music that graces a film. That’s what Elmer Bernstein does, and that, for me, is his greatest gift. I don’t mean just talent, either; the music he writes is a gift to all of us. In ‘The Age of Innocence’ Elmer’s score had to adapt to the style and pace of the language, as well as meet all the additional and more usual dramatic requirement of composing for the screen. We had no lengthy discussions about this, but when we laid in the score the first time it flowed over the narration like a clear-running brook.”

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“Men In War,” 1957 | James Powers, Hollywood Reporter

“The music of ‘Men in War’ is the language of the sounds, the thoughts, the sights of men in battle. The stillness of the forest is ever-present, the rustle of a leaf is ear splitting, the pathos and suspense of imminent death pervades the very air, all brought to life through the magic of Mr. Bernstein’s skillful music. Album notes.

“Elmer Bernstein contributes another notable score, not dissonant, now lyric, filling in the gaps where conversation would be impossible or unlikely.”

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“The Babe,” 1991 | Arthur Hiller, Director
“I’m so glad Elmer Bernstein didn’t become a concert pianist! We who worked with him on ‘The Babe’ are glad he chose composing for films instead. I love the music on this album, but I love it even more as it brings so many emotions to the film and enhances so many emotions that are there.”

His outstanding filmography is here:

Saturday’s Hero, 1951

Boots Malone, 1952

Sudden Fear, 1952

Battles of Chief Pontiac, 1953

Cat Women of the Moon, 1953

Dieppe Raid, 1953

Never Wave at a WAC, 1953

Robot Monster, 1953

Make Haste to Live, 1954

Miss Robin Crusoe, 1954

Silent Raiders, 1954

Bar Sinister, The, 1955

Eternal Sea, The, 1955

Man with the Golden Arm, The, 1955

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Storm Fear, 1955

View from Pompey’s Head, The, 1955

Ten Commandments, The, 1956

Drango, 1957

Fear Strikes Out, 1957

Men in War, 1957

Sweet Smell of Success, The, 1957

Tin Star, The, 1957

Anna Lucasta, 1958

Buccaneer, The, 1958

Desire Under the Elms, 1958

God’s Little Acre, 1958

Kings Go Forth, 1958

Saddle the Wind, 1958

Some Came Running, 1958

Miracle, The, 1959

From the Terrace, 1960

Magnificent Seven, The, 1960

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Western Heritage Award

Rat Race, The, 1960

Story on Page One, The, 1960

By Love Possessed, 1961

Comancheros, The, 1961

Summer and Smoke, 1961

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Young Doctors, The, 1961

Birdman of Alcatraz, 1962

Girl Named Tamiko, A, 1962

To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Golden Globe Award® Winner

Walk on the Wild Side, 1962

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Song
“Walk on the Wild Side”

Caretakers, The, 1963

Great Escape, The, 1963

Hud, 1963

Kings of the Sun, 1963

Rampage, 1963

Baby the Rain Must Fall, 1964

Carpetbaggers, The, 1964

Love with the Proper Stranger, 1964

World of Henry Orient, The, 1964

Hallelujah Trail, The, 1965

Western Heritage Award

Reward, The, 1965

Seven Women, 1965

Sons of Katie Elder, The, 1965

Cast a Giant Shadow, 1966

Hawaii, 1966

Academy Award®Nomination, Best Original Score

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Song
“My Wishing Doll”

Golden Globe Award® Winner

Return of the Seven, 1966

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Silencers, The, 1966

Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967

Academy Award® Winner, Best Original Score

Bridge at Remagen, The, 1968

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, 1968

Scalphunters, The, 1968

Guns of the Magnificent Seven, 1969

Gypsy Moths, The, 1969

Midas Run, The, 1969

True Grit, 1969

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Song
“True Grit”

Where’s Jack?, 1969

Cannon for Cordoba, 1970

Liberation of L. B. Jones, The, 1970

Walk in the Spring Rain, A, 1970

Big Jake, 1971

Doctors’ Wives, 1971

See No Evil, 1971

Amazing Mr. Blunden, The, 1972

Magnificent Seven Ride!, The, 1972

Cahill: United States Marshal, 1973

Deadly Honeymoon, 1974

Gold, 1974

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Song
“Wherever Love Takes Me”

McQ, 1974

Trial of Billy Jack, The, 1974

Mr. Quilp, 1975

Report to the Commissioner, A, 1975

From Noon Till Three, 1976

Incredible Sarah, The, 1976

Shootist, The, 1976

Slap Shot, 1977

Animal House, 1978

Billy Jack Goes to Washington, 1978

Blood Brothers, 1979

Meatballs, 1979

Zulu Dawn, 1979

Trust Me, 1980

Airplane!, 1980

Blues Brothers, The, 1980

Great Santini, The, 1980

Saturn III,1980

American Werewolf in London, An, 1981

Chosen, The, 1981

Going Ape!, 1981

Heavy Metal, 1981

Honky Tonk Freeway, 1981

Stripes, 1981

Five Days One Summer, 1982

Genocide, 1982

Class, 1983

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, 1983

Trading Places, 1983

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Ghostbusters, 1984

Marie Ward – Zwischen Galgen und Glorie, 1984

Prince Jack, 1984

Black Cauldron, The, 1985

Spies Like Us, 1985

Legal Eagles, 1986

Three Amigos!, 1986

Amazing Grace and Chuck, 1987

Leonard Part 6,1987

Da!, 1988

Funny Farm, 1988

Good Mother, The, 1988

Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, A, 1988

My Left Foot, 1989

Slipstream, 1989

Field, The, 1990

Grifters, The, 1990

Cape Fear, 1991

Oscar, 1991

Rage in Harlem, A, 1991

Rambling Rose, 1991

Babe, The, 1992

Mad Dog and Glory, 1992

Age of Innocence, The, 1993

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Cemetery Club, The, 1993

Good Son, The, 1993

Lost in Yonkers, 1993

Devil in a Blue Dress, 1995

Frankie Starlight, 1995

Roommates, 1995

Search and Destroy, 1995

Bulletproof, 1996

Buddy, 1997

Hoodlum, 1997

Rainmaker, The, 1997

Twilight, 1998

Bringing Out the Dead, 1999

Deep End of the Ocean, The, 1999

Wild Wild West, 1999

Keeping the Faith, 2000

Far From Heaven, 2002

Academy Award® Nomination, Best Original Score

Golden Globe® Nomination, Best Original Score