An impressive archive from man who scored half a century of film
Creating some of the most recognisable overtures in the history of cinema, Elmer Bernstein paved the way for composers on screen. Elmer’s son, composer and arranger Peter Bernstein, orchestrated his father’s scores between 1974-1986 and talks to MAG_BTM about his father’s archive, papers and musical effects, now housed at the Cinema Television Library, in the University of Southern California (USC).
Having spent the ‘50s building a career defying convention with his brassy jazz scores in The Man with the Golden Arm, Bernstein went on to define many of the guiding principles of modern film over his illustrious life in music. From The Great Escape to Ghostbusters, Animal House and To Kill a Mockingbird, his credits include over 200 film and television scores. The cinematic envelope was torn wide open in the 1960s. New Hollywood was shaped by power shifts, counterculture, new ideas, and new sense of vitality. It was the era American films grew up, creativity ruled, and the year one of the greatest musical composers of all time, Elmer Bernstein, cemented his name in the industry with the release of iconic Western, The Magnificent Seven.
Nominated for an Oscar in every decade of his life since the 1950s, Bernstein was one of the most recorded and gifted composers in Hollywood history. Her pictured against a wall of accolades in his home.
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
Bernstein with director John Sturges recording the score for The Magnificent Seven (1960). John went onto direct The Great Escape (1963) and Ice Station Zebra (1968).
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
Bernstein with director John Landis. He worked on the scores for many of John’s films in the ’80s including Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Trading Places.
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
Early days in the studio recording with the orchestra.
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
Bernstein with “Marty” Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Bernstein worked on scores for Scorsese’s films Cape Fear (1991) and Age of Innocence (1993).
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
Early poster for a recital by Bernstein
Poster courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
An early shot of Bernstein with theatre and film director Vicente Minnelli.
Photo courtesy of Peter Bernstein.
On stage in 1990 with his Lifetime Achievement Award by ASCAP
