Overview (5)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (3)

Trivia (17)



Among his early radio work, he scored Orson Welles ' infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

Was known to be a staunch Anglophile.





Regarded Ein Gespenst auf Freiersfüßen (1947) as his favorite of his own film scores. Some of the main thematic material in the score turned up in Herrmann's only opera, "Wuthering Heights."

Conductor for CBS Radio's "Crime Classics" (1953-1954).





Was the #1 inspiration and role model to composer Danny Elfman

His second wife was the cousin of his first wife.





The last film he ever saw was Larry Cohen 's God Told Me To (1976). Herrmann was Cohen's original choice to score the film because of his work on Die Wiege des Bösen (1974), but he died in his sleep that night, hours after it was screened for him. The film was dedicated to Herrmann in his honor.



Composed the original opening theme for Unglaubliche Geschichten (1959). At the start of the second season, it was replaced by the more familiar theme composed by Marius Constant



Alfred Hitchcock was so pleased by Herrmann's music for Psycho (1960) that he doubled his contracted fee for the score.



When Bernard Herrmann arrived in Hollywood, his natural gifts for film scoring were immediately recognized. He received Oscar nominations for his first two films, "Citizen Kane" (1941) and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941), and won the award for the latter. It was the beginning of a tempestuous relationship with the movie industry. Herrmann was unusual among film composers of the time in working on a per-film basis, refusing to be put under long-term contract; he insisted on doing his own orchestrations and introduced instruments and techniques that were new to Tinseltown scoring, such as the electronic effects in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951). But Herrmann's abrasive personality and explosive, irrational temper alienated friends and made him many enemies in the industry, and they retaliated through the Motion Picture Academy. After 1941 he received only one Oscar nomination during his lifetime, for "Anna and the King of Siam" (1946), while much of his best work - including all his films with Alfred Hitchcock - was snubbed. After Herrmann's death in December 1975, the Academy posthumously nominated him for his last two films, "Obsession" (1976) and "Taxi Driver" (1976).

Herrmann is buried at Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York, in Section BB2, at the intersection of Beth Israel and Washington Avenues.





Herrmann didn't care about awards, perhaps echoing the sentiment of one of his musical idols, composer Charles Ives : "Prizes are for boys, and I'm a grown-up". He gave his only Oscar (for "The Devil and Daniel Webster", 1941) to his daughter Dorothy Herrmann to keep when she was a teenager. Dorothy remembered, "In later years, whenever he visited me and saw it, he looked a bit surprised as if he had forgotten he had even won it".

Personal Quotes (5)

Your views are as narrow as your tie.





In California, they like to pigeonhole you. From the time I began working for Hitchcock [ Alfred Hitchcock ], they decided I was a big suspense man. On other occasions, I've had fantasies of bittersweet romantic stories. I think I'd enjoy writing a good comedy score, but I've never had the luck to be offered such films. Mancini [ Henry Mancini ] gets the cheerful ones.



I wrote the main title to Psycho (1960) before Saul Bass even did the animation . . . After the main title, nothing much happens for 20 minutes or so. Appearances, of course, are deceiving, for in fact the drama starts immediately with the titles . . . I am firmly convinced, and so is Hitchcock [ Alfred Hitchcock ], that after the main titles you know something terrible must happen. The main title sequence tells you so, and that is its function: to set the drama. You don't need cymbal crashes or records that never sell.

[Good film music] . . . can invest a scene with terror, grandeur, gaiety or misery . . . \propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down.





Alfred Hitchcock ] only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him.

Salary (2)