May God bless you and your...
Godspeed Elmer, and thank you for sharing a part of your life with us.
Harry Simpson
August 18, 2017 | Buckeye, AZ
Los Angeles, California
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Film composer Elmer Bernstein, who created a brawny, big-sky theme for "The Magnificent Seven," nerve-jangling jazz for "The Man With The Golden Arm" and heart-rending grace notes for "To Kill a Mockingbird," has died.
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.
Still, major studios refused to hire him, and he resorted to turning out music for low-budget films like "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon."
Ironically, it was the vocally anti-communist director Cecil B. De Mille who broke the gray list by hiring Bernstein to replace the ailing Victor Young on "The Ten Commandments."
De Mille asked him, "Do you think you can do for Egyptian music what Puccini did for Japanese music in "Madame Butterfly"?" The young composer accepted the challenge, earning the first of his 14 Oscar nominations in the process.
Through 200 movies and 80 television shows, Bernstein would prove that he could adapt to any kind of music. He won an Emmy Award in 1964 for "The Making of The President: 1960."
He is survived by his wife, Eve, sons Peter and Gregory, daughters Emilie and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.
A memorial service is pending
Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press
Godspeed Elmer, and thank you for sharing a part of your life with us.
Harry Simpson
August 18, 2017 | Buckeye, AZ
For Elmer...
WEEP NOT FOR ME
Do not weep for me when I no longer dwell among the wonders of the earth; for my larger self is free, and my soul rejoices on the other side of pain...on the other side of darkness.
Do not weep for me, for I am a ray of sunshine that touches your skin, a tropical breeze upon your face, the hush of joy within your heart and the innocence of babes in mothers arms.
I am the hope in a darkened night. And, in your hour...
March 17, 2010
With Diana at Elmer's 80th Birthday concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London.
He was a great, great, composer and a very nice gentleman and kind human being. I won't ever forget him. My sincerest best wishes to Elmer's family, and friends now and always.
Niall.
Niall Ahearne
February 10, 2009 | Dublin, Ireland.
Remembered By
Scott Chamberland
September 24, 2006 | St.Agatha, ME
I loved Elmer Bernstein's music! He was truly one of the masters of film scoring. Ever since I saw "The Magnificent Seven" and was stunned by that rousing score, I've made it a point to see everything I could that had his music in it. His scores elevated even mediocre or bad films. I was saddened to learn of his passing but he has a legacy that will live forever. Rest in Peace Mr. Bernstein. You will truly be missed!
John Jarvis
April 10, 2006 | Sacramento, CA
Much love and blessings to your family. Luke 23:42,43
Rosa Leone
September 26, 2004 | PA
GOD BLESS YOU
LINDA TRACY
August 23, 2004 | CLEVELAND, OH
Dear Bernstein Family, I am only 50, but remember being so moved seeing to Kill a Mockingbird as a child in the outdoor movies with my family. As I am a pt musician and after seeing the movie again, I realized that the score was as great as the movie, one of my favorites to this day. I hope that my Anthony meets Elmer, says hi and tells him how moving his compositions are. Good music is like a flowery engraving in one's brain. God Bless, A fan.
michael amato
August 23, 2004 | Hillsdale, NJ
Mr Bernstein and his music were loved by many. How happy we will be when those in the memorial tombs hear our Lord's voice and come out to a resurrection of life. What a time of great joy when we are reunited with our deceased loved ones.
Margaret Ann
August 21, 2004 | Pasadena, CA