Bernard Herrmann

Also known as Max Herman

American composer and conductor (1911-1975)

Film & TV

New York City, New York, USA

Bernard Herrmann (born Max Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer best known for his work in composing for motion pictures. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. An Academy Award-winner (for The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941; later renamed All That Money Can Buy), Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred…

Known for

20th Century Greats — Self (archive footage)2004
A Talk with Hitchcock — Self1964
The Man Who Knew Too Much — Conductor at Albert Hall (uncredited)1956
The Wrong Man — Stork Club Piano Player (uncredited)1956

via TMDB

Key facts

Born: Maximillian Herman , ( 1911-06-29 ) June 29, 1911, New York City, U.S.
Died: December 24, 1975 (1975-12-24) (aged 64), Los Angeles , California, U.S.
Resting place: Beth David Cemetery
Other name: Bernard Maximillian Herrmann
Education: Juilliard School New York University
Occupations: Composer conductor
Years active: 1934–1975
Known for: Golden Age Film Composer
Spouses: Lucille Fletcher ( married"}]]}'>m. October 2, 1939"}]]}'>1939 ; divorced"}]]}'>div. 1948 ) Lucy Anderson ( married"}]]}'>m. 1949 ; divorced"}]]}'>div. 1964 ) Norma Shepherd ( married"}]]}'>m. November 27, 1967"}]]}'>1967 )
Awards: 1941 Academy Award for, Music Score of a Dramatic Picture , The Devil and Daniel Webster a.k.a. All That Money Can Buy , 1976 BAFTA Award for, Best Film Music , Taxi Driver
Website: thebernardherrmannestate .com

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Bernard
Gender: male
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: New York City
Place of death: Los Angeles
Spouse: Lucille Fletcher
Occupation: film score composer
Educated at: DeWitt Clinton High School
Languages spoken: English language
Notable work: Citizen Kane
Field of work: film score
Official website: thebernardherrmannestate.com
Image: Bernard-Herrmann.jpg
Height: 173
Number of children: 2
Work location: United States

Show 12 more facts

cause of death: myocardial infarction
date of birth: 1911-06-29
date of death: 1975-12-24
manner of death: natural causes
Commons category: Bernard Herrmann
name in native language: Bernard Herrmann
start of work period: 1934-00-00
place of burial: Beth David Cemetery
end of work period: 1975-00-00
related category: Category:Films scored by Bernard Herrmann
influenced by: Max Steiner
P12674: Reinhold Bocklet

Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest film composers of all time. Alex Ross writes that "Over four decades, he revolutionized movie scoring by abandoning the illustrative musical techniques that dominated Hollywood in the 1930s and imposing his own peculiar harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary." As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers.

As a young man, Herrmann was the chief conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra, which led him to become the composer for Orson Welles's radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. This led him to write his first film score, for Welles's directorial debut Citizen Kane (1941). That year, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Devil and Daniel Webster. He worked with Welles again on The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and Jane Eyre (1943). He is best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he worked on nine films including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) (where he makes a cameo as the conductor at Royal Albert Hall), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) (as "sound consultant"), and Marnie (1964).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bernard Herrmann” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.