Oscar Profile #644: Elmer Bernstein

Born April 4, 1922 in New York, New York, Elmer Bernstein was a child actor and dancer who also won prizes for his painting. He was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II where he wrote music for the Armed Forces Radio. Eventually he wrote the scores for more than 200 films and TV shows.

Bernstein’s first film score was for 1951’s Saturday’s Hero. Boots Malone and Sudden Fear followed in 1952 with Never Wave at a WAC right behind them in 1953. Make Haste to Live followed in 1954. His 1955 output was especially strong with The Eternal Sea, The View from Pompey’s Head, Storm Fear, and The Man with the Golden Arm for which he received the first of his eventual fourteen Oscar nominations.

He achieved immortality as a film composer with 1956’s The Ten Commandments, followed by Fear Strikes Out, Sweet Smell of Success, and The Tin Star in 1957. His 1958 output included Desire Under the Elms, Kings Go Forth, God’s Little Acre, Anna Lucasta, The Buccaneer, and Some Came Running. In 1959, he gave us The Miracle and The Story on Page One.

Bernstein began the 1960s with From the Terrace, The Rat Race, and The Magnificent Seven for which he received his second Oscar nomination. His 1961 output included By Love Possessed, The Young Doctors, The Comancheros, and Summer and Smoke for which he received his third Oscar nomination.

His score for 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird and the title song from the same year’s Walk on the Wild Side earned him his fourth and fifth Oscar nominations. His output that year also included the scores for Birdman of Alcatraz and A Girl Named Tamiko. His 1963 output included Hud, The Great Escape, and Love with the Proper Stranger. Then came 1964’s The World of Henry Orient, and 1966’s 7 Women, Hawaii, and Return of the Seven, the last two films garnering him three Oscar nominations.

Bernstein’s ninth Oscar nomination for 1967’s Thoroughly Modern Millie finally earned him his only Oscar. That same year’s Broadway musical, How Now, Dow Jones earned him Tony nominations for both music and lyrics. Subsequent film scores included 1969’s True Grit and an Oscar nomination for the film’s title song, 1976’s The Shootist, 1980’s The Great Santini, 1989’s My Left Foot, 1990’s The Grifters, 1993’s The Age of Innocence for which he earned his next to last Oscar nomination, 1997’s The Rainmaker, and 2002’s Far from Heaven for which he earned his fourteenth and final Oscar nomination.

Elmer Bernstein died in 2004 at 82.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), directed by Cecil B. DeMille

If Bernstein had composed no other film score than the majestic one that he composed for The Ten Commandments he would still be considered a screen immortal/ The same thing, though, could be said about several of his scores including those he composed for The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape which may not have become the hits they did without his thumping arrangements. The highlight of his score for The Ten Commandments is, of course, the parting of the walls of the Red Sea. “Behold his mighty hand!” indeed.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1946), directed by Robert Mulligan

A major ingredient of the lasting power of the film version of Harper Lee’s tender novel is Bernstein’s gentle and oh-so-appropriate score which highlights so many perfect moments, especially the scenes between Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch and his children, the scenes between the children themselves, and most hauntingly, the meeting of the children (Mary Badham, Phillip Alford) and the silent Boo Radley (Robert Duvall) that brings the film to its conclusion. Bernstein’s Oscar nominated score would have been an easy winner if it weren’t for Maurice Jarre’s score for Lawrence of Arabia.

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (1947), directed by George Roy Hill

Bernstein finally won an Oscar on his ninth nomination for his bouncy score for the 1920s set Thoroughly Modern Millie which seamlessly combined standards of the era like “Baby Face”, “Jimmy”, “Do It Again”, “Poor Butterfly”, and “Rose of Washington Square” with the newly composed title song and the entire underscore. It was all performed with seemingly effortless panache by Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore as flappers, James Fox and John Gavin as the men in their lives, Carol Channing in an Oscar nominated performance as, what else, a showgirl, and Beatrice Lillie as the chief villain.

THE RAINMAKER (1997), directed by Francis Ford Coppola

One of the better, if not the best, film version of one of John Grisholm;s ubiquitous mystery novels, Coppola’s film of a young lawyer in an old Southern town benefits substantially from Bernstein’s score as it does the performances of an outstanding cast led by Matt Damon as the lawyer. Also in the large cast were Danny DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Mary Kay Place, Dean Stockwell, Teresa Wright, Viginia Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Andrew Shue, Roy Scheider, and Randy Travis. It was the last film for the always good to see Teresa Wright.

FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002), directed by Todd Haynes

Bernstein provided a memorable, haunting score for this, his last film. A deft tribute to, as well as critique, of Douglas Sirk’s 1955 classic, All That Heaven Allows, it earned the composer his fourteenth and final Oscar nomination, one of only four accorded the film which had won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Film, Director, Supporting Actor (Dennis Quaid), Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson), and Cinematography. Alas, Oscar only nominated it for Best Actress (Julianne Moore), Original Screenplay (by Hanes), Cinematography, and Score.