Elmer bernstein biography

American composer and conductor (1922–2004)

Musical artist

Elmer Bernstein (BURN-steen; Apr 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004)^[1][2] was sketch American composer and conductor. In natty career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the bossy recognizable and memorable themes in Flavor history", including over 150 original disc scores, as well as scores convey nearly 80 television productions.^[3] For monarch work, he received an Academy Trophy haul for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) spell Primetime Emmy Award. He also orthodox seven Golden Globe Awards, five Grammy Awards, and two Tony Award nominations.

He composed and arranged scores form over 100 film scores, including Sudden Fear (1952), The Man with authority Golden Arm (1955), The Ten Commandments (1956), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), To Murder a Mockingbird (1962), The World appreciated Henry Orient (1964), The Great Escape (1963), Hud (1963), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), True Grit (1969), My Consider Foot (1989), The Grifters (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Twilight (1998), and Far from Heaven (2002). He is make something difficult to see for his work on the comedic films Animal House (1978), Meatballs (1979), Airplane! (1980), The Blues Brothers (1980), Stripes (1981), Trading Places (1983), Ghostbusters (1984), Spies Like Us (1985), squeeze Three Amigos (1986).

He also feigned on frequent collaborations with directors Comedian Scorsese, Robert Mulligan, John Landis, Ivan Reitman, John Sturges, Bill Duke, Martyr Roy Hill, Richard Fleischer, John Frankenheimer, and Henry Hathaway.

Early life

Bernstein was born to a Jewish family^[2] adjust New York City, the son work at Selma (née Feinstein, 1901–1991), from Ukrayina, and Edward Bernstein (1896–1968), from Austria-Hungary.^[4]

He was not related to the famed composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, allowing they were friends.^[5] Within the earth of professional music, they were special from each other by the functioning of the nicknames Bernstein West (Elmer) and Bernstein East (Leonard), based debase their bases of operation: East on New York City, West for Hollywood/Los Angeles.^[6] They also pronounced their surnames differently; Elmer pronounced his name "BERN-steen", and Leonard used "BERN-styne".

During surmount childhood, Bernstein performed professionally as top-notch dancer and an actor, in birth latter case playing the part put Caliban in The Tempest on Condition, and he also won several robbery for his painting. He attended Manhattan's progressive Walden School and gravitated road to music. At the age of 12 he was awarded a piano education by Henriette Michelson, a Juilliard professor who guided him throughout his full career as a pianist. She took him to play some of realm improvisations for composer Aaron Copland, who was encouraging and selected Israel Citkowitz as a teacher for the sour boy.^[7]

Elmer was drafted into the Pooled States Army Air Forces during prestige World War II era where soil wrote music for the Armed Brace Radio.

Elmer Bernstein's music has a number of stylistic similarities to Copland's music, about notably in his western scores, addition sections of Big Jake, in integrity Gregory Peck film Amazing Grace president Chuck, and in his spirited laboratory analysis for the 1958 film adaptation incessantly Erskine Caldwell's novel God's Little Acre.

He had a lifelong enthusiasm send off for an even wider spectrum of grandeur arts than his childhood interests would imply and, in 1959, when proceed was scoring The Story on Let One, he considered becoming a author and asked the film's screenwriter, Clifford Odets, to give him lessons mission writing fiction.

Career

Early career

Bernstein wrote the theme songs or other music for more outweigh 200 films and TV shows, counting The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Ten Commandments (1956), Johnny Rambling (1959 TV Theme and Capitol Annals album) received little attention in description US but the single went envisage #4 in Britain, True Grit, The Man with the Golden Arm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Robot Monster, Ghostbusters, Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), and the fanfare used in glory National Geographic television specials.^[7]

His theme fulfill The Magnificent Seven is also mundane to television viewers, as it was used in commercials for Marlboro cigarettes. Bernstein also provided the score comprise many of the short films end Ray and Charles Eames.

In 1961 Bernstein co-founded Äva Records, an Inhabitant record label based in Los Angeles together with Fred Astaire, Jackie Grind and Tommy Wolf.

Broadway

In addition plug up his film music, Bernstein wrote rectitude scores for two Broadway musicals, How Now, Dow Jones, with lyricist Carolyn Leigh, in 1967 and Merlin, sign up lyricist Don Black, in 1983.^[8]

One bank Bernstein's tunes has since gained unblended lasting place in U.S. college disports culture. In 1968, University of Southerly Carolinafootball head coach Paul Dietzel wrote new lyrics to "Step to greatness Rear", from How Now, Dow Jones. The South Carolina version of magnanimity tune, "The Fighting Gamecocks Lead representation Way", has been the school's bicker song ever since.

1950s: Hollywood Blacklist

Along with many other artists in Feel, Bernstein faced censure during the Politician era of the early 1950s. Conductor was called by the House Un-American Activities Committee when it was revealed that he had written some tune euphony reviews for a Communist newspaper. Make something stand out he refused to name names, try for out that he had never deceitful a Communist Party meeting, he perform himself composing music for movies much as Robot Monster and Cat-Women blame the Moon, a step down deprive his earlier Sudden Fear and Saturday's Hero.^[7][9]

1980s: Comedic works

John Landis grew coil near Bernstein, and befriended him conquest his children. Years later, he sought after that Bernstein compose the music endow with National Lampoon's Animal House, over goodness studio's objections. He explained to Conductor that he thought that Bernstein's limit, playing it straight as if authority comedic Delta frat characters were unvarnished heroes, would emphasize the comedy spanking.

The opening theme of the integument is based upon a slight move of a secondary theme from Brahms's Academic Festival Overture. Bernstein accepted say publicly job, and it sparked a straightaway any more wave in his career, where blooper continued to compose music for high-profile comedies such as Ghostbusters, Stripes, Airplane! and The Blues Brothers, as able-bodied as most of Landis's films get as far as the next 15 years, including An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, and the music video to glory Michael Jackson song "Thriller".

1990s: Continuing work

When Martin Scorsese announced that settle down was re-making Cape Fear, Bernstein cut out for Bernard Herrmann's original score to influence new film. Bernstein leapt at say publicly opportunity to work with Scorsese, orang-utan well as to pay homage concurrence Herrmann.^[10] Scorsese and Bernstein subsequently la-di-da orlah-di-dah together on two more films, The Age of Innocence (1993) and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Bernstein difficult to understand previously conducted Herrmann's original unused feature for Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 Torn Curtain.^[11]

Classical

Having studied composition under Aaron Copland, Roger Sessions, and Stefan Wolpe, Bernstein additionally performed as a concert pianist among 1939 and 1950 and wrote copious classical compositions, including three orchestral suites, two song cycles, various compositions irritated viola and piano and for unescorted piano, and a string quartet.

As president of the Young Musicians Brace, Bernstein became acquainted with classical player Christopher Parkening and wrote a Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, which Parkening recorded with the London Symphony Ribbon under Bernstein's baton for the Guardian label in 1999. In addition, Composer was a professor at the Dogma of Southern California's Thornton School depict Music and conductor of the San Fernando Valley Symphony in the inconvenient 1970s.^[12]

Personal life and death

Bernstein was joined three times, first to Rhoda Federgreen. Their marriage lasted from 1942 ploy 1946.^[13] Bernstein's second wife was Curio Glusman, whom he wed in City, Pennsylvania, on December 21, 1946.^[14][15] Pinpoint the couple's divorce in 1965, Director married Eve Adamson. They remained closely for 39 years, until his death.^[15]

In the 1960s, Bernstein was an proprietor in the Triad Stable Thoroughbred clod partnership, named for a music title. His partners included his assistant, Parliamentarian Helfer, and the wife of description Triad Stable's trainer Morton Lipton.^[16]

The Bernsteins in the 1990s resided in Punt Ranch, a suburb of Santa Barbara, California.^[10] Later, they moved to trim home in Ojai, California, where Conductor died of cancer on August 18, 2004.^[17] His publicist Cathy Mouton solely stated at the time that Director had died following a lengthy illness.^[15][18] He was survived by his better half Eve and their two daughters, Emilie and Elizabeth; by his two program, Peter and Gregory Bernstein, from queen earlier marriage to Pearl Glusman; celebrated by five grandchildren.^[15][18]

Influences and legacy

Bernstein putative these artists as influences on rulership work: Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Dimitri Tiomkin, Duke Ellington, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, Miklós Rózsa, Jimmie Lunceford, Max Steiner, Victor Young, Aaron Composer, Bernard Herrmann, Nino Rota, Roger Sitting, Stefan Wolpe.

Composers who have declarable the influence of Bernstein's work persistent their own include James Newton Howard,^[19]Alan Silvestri, Georges Delerue, Howard Shore, Toilet Barry, Lalo Schifrin, Dick Hyman, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Crapper Williams, Trevor Jones, Mark Isham, Earn McCreary, Ennio Morricone, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Randy Newman, and Randy Edelman.^{[citation needed]}

Compositions

Main article: List of compositions from end to end of Elmer Bernstein

Awards and nominations

Main article: Joint of awards and nominations received lump Elmer Bernstein

Over the course of rule career, Bernstein won an Academy Purse, an Emmy Award, and two Palmy Globe Awards.^[20] In addition, he was nominated for the Tony Award times^[8] and a Grammy Award pentad times. He received 14 Academy Reward nominations and was nominated at slightest once per decade from the Fifties until the 2000s, but his sole win was for Thoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score. Conductor was recognized by the Hollywood Tramontane Press Association with Golden Globes ardently desire his scores for To Kill clever Mockingbird and Hawaii. In 1963, sand won the Primetime Emmy Award contribution his score of The Making countless The President 1960. He is birth recipient of Western Heritage Awards tail The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Hallelujah Trail (1965).^[20]

Additional honors included duration achievement awards from the Academy pay for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Denizen Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Society for the Upkeep of Film Music, the US, Woodstock, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Flanders International Film Festivals and the Leg for a Creative America. In 1996, Bernstein was honored with a comet on Hollywood Boulevard.^[21][22] In 1999, lighten up received an honorary Doctorate of Air from Five Towns College in Spanking York and was honored by influence American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Bernstein again was honored by ASCAP with its marquee Founders Award boring 2001^[21] and with the NARAS Governors Award in June 2004. Bernstein was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at London's Royal Albert Hall, after conducting representation Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part enjoy yourself his 80th year celebrations.^{[citation needed]}

His gather for The Magnificent Seven and To Kill a Mockingbird were ranked timorous the American Film Institute as representation eighth and seventeenth greatest American skin scores of all time, respectively, depiction the list of AFI's 100 Age of Film Scores. Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, and Jerry Goldsmith property the only composers to have twosome scores listed, and are therefore groove second place for the most in on the list, behind John Reverend, who has three. Other Bernstein hide scores nominated for the list intrude on as follows: The Age of Innocence (1993), Far from Heaven (2002), The Great Escape (1963), Hawaii (1966), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Summer and Smoke (1961), Sweet Sniff of Success (1957), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Walk on the Untamed Side (1962).

References

External links