Elmer Bernstein was born on April 4, 1922, in New York City. When he was thirteen, he auditioned for Aaron Copland and was given the opportunity to study with one of Copland’s students. Bernstein continued his piano studies at the Julliard School, where he also studied composition.
Elmer Bernstein was drafted for service in World War II, and his first assignment was to arrange songs for the United States Army Air Force Band, followed writing music for Armed Forces Radio programming. Following the war, he was commissioned to compose for a United Nations radio program, which was heard a network executive and led to an offer to compose for one of their programs.
As a result of his television work, he was able to break into Hollywood, and his first big break came in 1955 with The Man With the Golden Arm, which earned him his first Oscar nomination and became his first commercially released film soundtrack.
The enormous generic variety of his efforts demonstrates the breadth of his abilities. He also scored Animal House, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Cape Fear, and his theme for The Magnificent Seven became known as the Marlboro cigarettes theme music, epitomizing the Western hero.
Elmer Bernstein was nominated for and won a slew of awards and honors. He was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won for Best Original Music Score in 1968 for Thoroughly Modern Millie. He received two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Original Score for Hawaii in 1967 and Best Motion Picture Score for To Kill a Mockingbird in 1963.
Elmer Bernstein has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, for The Age of Innocence in 1994 and Ghost Busters in 1985. In 1985, he won a Razzie for the worst musical score of the year for Bolero, which he shared with his son, Peter Bernstein.
Elmer Bernstein also established his own record label in order to produce recordings of previously unreleased soundtracks. He continued to work as a conductor and composer until his death on August 18, 2004.