Elmer Berstein dies at 82

[trekgeezer]

Elmer did the music scores for a lot of my favorite movies and probably yours too.  His talent was vast and varied. Here are just a few:

The Man with the Golden Arm
The Ten Commandments
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Magnificent Seven
The Great Escape
Thoroughly Modern Mille
True Grit
The Shootist
(He scored the last seven of John Wayne's movies)
National Lampoon's Animal House
Ghost Busters
Bringing Out the Dead
Cape Fear (DeNiro version)

In all he scored about 200 movies. Our sincere sympathy goes out to all of Elmer Berstein's loved ones in their time of grief.

You can listen to some audio of a 1997 interview with Elmer here NPR audio

I like what he said about  scoring westerns and how  modern directors would not let  him get away with that now.

[Evan3]

Wow! What a list of movies. Its too bad we are losing such directors who while not great but on a fun movie.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Thanks for the news Trek.  It's a shame that score composers, and other film crew, don't get the recognition that they should.

Although I wasn't familiar with Berstein, I have seen numerous films on that list.  The next time I watch some of them, I'll make sure to pay special attention to the score.

[BoyScoutKevin]

His "The Magnificent Seven" is one of the greatest scores of all time (IMHO.) It would receive renewed prominence, when it was used as background for the television commercials for Marlboro cigarettes.

How odd, or maybe not. That his only Oscar would be for "Thoroughly Modern Millie." One of my least favorite of his scores.

With his death, musical scores for films and television will not be the same. He will be missed.