James Bernard (composer)

James Michael Bernard ( born September 20, 1925 in India, † 12 July 2001 in London ) was a British screenwriter and film composer who in 1952 won the Oscar for best original story for his only screenplay work and especially by the music composed by him film music the horror and science fiction films, the film production company hammer films became known.

Life

Bernard was born as the son of an officer in the British Army in India, but screwed up already as an infant for health reasons to England, where he attended the Wellington College in Berkshire. After 1942 at the age of 17, the composer Benjamin Britten and his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, met, he decided to work as a composer. After he had served his military service in the Royal Air Force 1943-1946, he studied with Imogen Holst and Herbert Howells composition at the Royal College of Music. After graduating in 1949, he worked as a composer for the BBC radio plays.

When he about 1950 the screenwriter and film producer Paul Dehn met to common professional projects, a close friendship and eventually an existing up to Dehn's death in 1976 resulted in civil partnership. The two wrote the screenplay for the film A town holds its breath ( Seven Days to Noon, 1950) by John and Roy Boulting by Barry Jones, Andre Morell and Olive Sloane in the lead roles. For this, he and Dehn in 1952 awarded the Oscar in the then existing category of Best Original Story.

From the mid- 1950s he composed especially the soundtrack for horror and science fiction films, the film production company Hammer Films and later for documentation about this production company and their stars like the TV series Hammer House of Horror ( 1980 ), Peter Cushing: A One-Way ticket to Hollywood ( 1989) and Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994).

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Soundtrack

• Music From the Hammer film. Music by James Bernard · Christopher Gunning · David Whitaker, Silva Screen Records, London 1989, Media -No. FILMCD 066