James Bernard
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James Bernard (1925 - 12 July 2001) was a British film composer.
He is remembered almost exclusively for the music he composed for the Hammer horror films of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Undoubtedly his most famous was Horror of Dracula in 1958, for which he composed a motif based on the sound Dra-cu-laaaaa. Other memorable Hammer scores included The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Kiss of the Vampire (1962), The Plague of the Zombies (1966) and The Devil Rides Out (1968).
While he was a pupil at Wellington College, Bernard became good friends with the future actor Christopher Lee, who was a fellow classmate. It was a fortuitous meeting, because Lee would go on to star in a great many horror films for Hammer Studios, for which his friend James Bernard would write the scores.
He undertook national service in the RAF from 1943 to 1946. Benjamin Britten kept in touch with him during this period and encouraged him to learn the principles of composition.
After being demobbed he went to the Royal College of Music, studying under Imogen Holst and Herbert Howells. He graduated in 1949. About this time he met the writer and critic Paul Dehn with whom he started a professional relationship but who also became his life partner. Paul Dehn asked James Bernard to collaborate with him on the original screen story for the Boulting Brothers film Seven Days To Noon, (1950). For this Paul Dehn and Jame Bernard shared the 1952 Academy Award for the Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.
In 1950 Benjamin Britten approached him to copy out the vocal score of his new opera Billy Budd for his publishers Boosey & Hawkes. While doing this he stayed with Benjamin Britten at Aldeburgh. He went to the opening night with Benjamin Britten's housekeeper and the librettist E. M. Forster.
In later years, he was called upon to write an original score for F.W. Murnau's classic silent horror Nosferatu (1922/1997) and Kevin Brownlow's documentary Universal Horror (1998).
His music was distinct for its clashing harmonies, often created by doubling a motif a tone higher, as in his famous Dracula theme. His music was also frenzied and pacey at times, frequently making use of percussion such as timpani and snares. The Devil Rides Out and The Plague of the Zombies are good examples of this. However, he could also write lushly romantic melodies, such as appear in Frankenstein Created Woman and Scars of Dracula.
Bernard also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1950 film Seven Days to Noon, and won an Academy Award for best original screen story.
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Jack Asher (cinematographer) • Roy Ashton (make-up artist) • Don Banks (composer) • James Bernard (composer) • Michael Carreras (producer) • Arthur Grant (cinematographer) • Anthony Hinds (producer, writer) • William Hinds (founder, producer) • Phil Leakey (makeup artist) • Eddie Powell (stuntman) • Michael Reed (cinematographer) • Bernard Robinson (designer) • Jimmy Sangster (writer, director)
