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IMDbPro

Charles Bernstein(I)

  • Composer
  • Music Department
  • Executive
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Charles Bernstein
In 1945, two Japanese-American brothers (half-Caucasian & half Japanese) escape from their internment camp in Manzanar, California, in order to find their Caucasian mother who lives in town.
Play trailer1:00
Half Kenneth (2009)
3 Videos
2 Photos
Talented, prolific and versatile film composer Charles Bernstein was born on February 28, 1943 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He conducted his own orchestral music at age sixteen and studied composition with Vitorio Giannini and Vincent Persichetti at Juilliard. Bernstein also attended the University of California; he received an Outstanding Graduate of the College Award, a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship and a Chancellor's Doctoral Teaching Fellowship while working with American composer Roy Harris. His impressively eclectic musical style ranges from comedy to drama to action to horror. Bernstein has supplied the scores for a bunch of enjoyably down'n'dirty 70's drive-in exploitation features: he turned up the funk with "That Man Bolt," went all-out groovy for the "Invasion of the Bee Girls," and kicked out the tuneful swinging country jams on "White Lightning" (a snippet of this score was used in the "Kill Bill Vol. 1" soundtrack), "Gator," "A Small Town in Texas," and "Nightmare in Badham County." Bernstein's scores in the horror genre are especially chilling and effective: Among his finest fright film scores are "Hex," "Sweet Kill," "The Entity" (this is one of Bernstein's most inspired, inventive and underrated scores; it was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Music), "Cujo," Wes Craven's terrifying classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "April Fool's Day." Moreover, Bernstein has done scores for a large number of made-for-TV movies. He won an Emmy Award for his score for the "Little Miss Perfect" episode of the "CBS Schoolbreak Special." His scores for "Enslavement" and "The Sea Wolf" were nominated for Emmy Awards while his score for "The Man Who Broke A 1,000 Chains" received a Cable ACE Award nomination for Original Score. Outside of his substantial film and television work, Bernstein has also done music for Off-Broadway theater, modern dance, and the World Festival of Sacred Music, played jazz in the cellars of Paris, and danced and played folk music with the Greeks and gypsies from the Balkans. Moreover, Bernstein has written the acclaimed books "Film Music and Everything Else - Volume 1: Limitations" and "Movie Music: An Insider's View." He won an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his writing on music. Bernstein is a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Board of Directors of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and the Board of Directors of the ASCAP Foundation. In addition, Charles Bernstein has taught on the graduate film scoring faculty at USC and holds an annual film scoring seminar in the summer at UCLA Extension.
BornFebruary 28, 1943
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BornFebruary 28, 1943
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys

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Charles Bernstein

Known for

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street
7.4
  • Composer
  • 1984
The Entity (1982)
The Entity
6.7
  • Composer
  • 1982
Cujo (1983)
Cujo
6.1
  • Composer
  • 1983
Battlefield: Home: Breaking the Silence (2017)
Battlefield: Home: Breaking the Silence
  • Composer
  • 2017

Credits

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IMDbPro

Composer

  • Battlefield: Home: Breaking the Silence
    • Completed
  • The Gambler (2022)
    The Gambler
  • Monsters Madness and Magic (2020)
    Monsters Madness and Magic
  • 9th Circuit Cowboy: The Long, Good Fight of Judge Harry Pregerson (2021)
    9th Circuit Cowboy: The Long, Good Fight of Judge Harry Pregerson
  • Spirits and Sprocket Holes: Frank Urioste and The Entity (2019)
    Inner Strength: Barbara Hershey and The Entity
  • Spirits and Sprocket Holes: Frank Urioste and The Entity (2019)
    Seeing Is Believing: An Interview with Actor David Labiosa
  • Spirits and Sprocket Holes: Frank Urioste and The Entity (2019)
    High Dread: An Interview with Composer Charles Bernstein
  • Jarod Daniel Tracey, Samantha Marie Farrell, Daniel Westerfors, Chris R. Notarile, Roberto Lombardi, Diandra Lazor, Jim Martin, and Shawn Malone in New Tale: The Demon of Elm Street (2019)
    New Tale: The Demon of Elm Street
  • Roberto Lombardi in Krueger: Tales from Elm Street (2017)
    Krueger: Tales from Elm Street
  • Liza Liza: Skies Are Grey (2015)
    Liza Liza: Skies Are Grey
  • Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015)
    Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf
  • The Red House (2014)
    The Red House
    • (music by)
  • Jesus Town, USA (2014)
    Jesus Town, USA
  • Official Poster of "Krueger (Another Tale from Elm Street)"
    Krueger: Another Tale from Elm Street
  • The Passions & Politics of Ed Edelman: An Untold Story of Leadership in Los Angeles (2013)
    The Passions & Politics of Ed Edelman: An Untold Story of Leadership in Los Angeles
  • To Beauty (2011)
    To Beauty

Music Department

  • Wes Craven, Chris R. Notarile, Roberto Lombardi, and Andrea-Nichole Olivas in Krueger: The Legend of Elm Street (2016)
    Krueger: The Legend of Elm Street
  • Heather Langenkamp in Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)
    Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
  • The Fear (El Miedo) (2006)
    The Fear (El Miedo)
  • Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger in Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
    Freddy vs. Jason
    • (uncredited)
  • Out of the Ashes (2003)
    Out of the Ashes
  • Profoundly Normal (2003)
    Profoundly Normal
  • Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Seann William Scott, Kerr Smith, and Amanda Detmer in Final Destination (2000)
    Final Destination
    • (uncredited)
  • Sean Connery in Sean Connery Close Up (1997)
    Sean Connery Close Up
  • Max Grodénchik in Rumpelstiltskin (1995)
    Rumpelstiltskin
  • New Nightmare (1994)
    New Nightmare
    • (uncredited)
  • Ling hu (1990)
    Ling hu
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
    A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
    • (uncredited)
  • Bill Pullman in The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
    The Serpent and the Rainbow
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
    A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
  • April Fool's Day (1986)
    April Fool's Day
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos3

Half Kenneth
Trailer 1:00
Half Kenneth
Luck of the DRAW
Trailer 1:45
Luck of the DRAW
Refusenik
Trailer 1:49
Refusenik

Personal details

Edit
    • Official Site
    • February 28, 1943
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
    • ? - present
  • Other works
    Unused score: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Music Branch) since 1995.
  • Quotes
    If a picture is worth a thousand words, just think of all the emotions a piece of music is worth.

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