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Donald Macleod talks with composer Emilie Bernstein about the music her father Elmer wrote for films during the 1980s and 1990s.

Born in 1922, Elmer Bernstein created the music for more than 150 films. His big break was one of Hollywood's biggest pictures, Cecil B DeMille's swan song, the 1955 biblical epic, "The Ten Commandments". At the same time as working on that enormous canvas for DeMille, Bernstein was composing the first in a series of groundbreaking jazz-infused scores, "The Man with the Golden Arm". He went on to write the music for the Hollywood adaptation of Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", westerns that include The Magnificent Seven, surely one of the best-known title themes in the history of cinema, before he became the go to composer for John Wayne. His scores for action adventures include "The Great Escape" and a moving depiction of the inner life of a prisoner in "Birdman of Alcatraz". Nominated on numerous occasions, he won an Oscar for "Thoroughly Modern Millie". In the 1980s he delighted younger generations of cinema goers with scores such as "National Lampoon's Animal House", "Ghostbusters" and "Airplane!", before deciding to make a return to more serious drama. Projects with Martin Scorsese included the film of Edith Wharton's novel "The Age of Innocence" and a remake of "Cape Fear". Projects with Martin Scorsese included the film of Edith Wharton's novel "The Age of Innocence" and a remake of "Cape Fear". He also created the musical soundscape for "My Left Foot", the film about the artist Christy Brown. His last score, for which he received a final Oscar nomination, was for Todd Haynes's "Far from Heaven" in 2002. He died just two years later in 2004.

Donald Macleod marks the centenary of this gifted and versatile film composer in conversation with Peter and Emilie Bernstein, two of Elmer Bernstein's children. They offer a fascinating insider's view into the film music industry alongside a personal portrait of their father.

An invitation from John Landis, an old school friend of his son Peter's, to write the music for a comedy film he had directed led Elmer Bernstein to write music for National Lampoon's Animal House. After a decade and producing music for a string of hit comedies, it was time to change course once again.

Ghostbusters theme
The Hollywood Studio Orchestra
Elmer Bernstein, conductor

Suite from Airplane!
The City of Prague Philharmonic
James Fitzpatrick conductor

Heavy Metal – Taarna’s Theme
The City of Prague Philharmonic
Crouch End Festival Chorus
Nic Raine, conductor

Ghostbusters
Dana’s theme
Fridge and sign
Attack
The Hollywood Studio Orchestra
Elmer Bernstein, conductor

My Left Foot
Mother
Church and Witches
Struggle and Frustration
Elmer Bernstein, conductor

The Grifters
The City
The Race Track
Roy in Trouble
School for Grifters
Cynthia Miller, ondes martenot
Elmer Bernstein, conductor