James Bernard
Composer
1925 - 2001
Responsible for the scores to several of Hammer's horror films, including 'Horror of Dracula' (1958), the main theme of which contains his unforgettable and justly famous motif 'Draaa-cu-laaaa!'
Bernard's first score for Hammer was 'The Quatermass Xperiment' in 1955, but he is most well-known for his gothic scores, beginning with 'The Curse of Frankenstein' in 1957, and ending in 1974 with 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell'. Although he is best-known for his distinctively pacey, rhythmic motifs and clashing chords, his music actually demonstrated a wide range of styles and moods, from the lush, romantic theme for piano and orchestra from 'The Kiss of the Vampire' (1962) or the ethereal strings of 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) to the frenetic, wildly pulsating dances of the same film and 'The Plague of the Zombies'.
His work outside Hammer is mostly unremembered, although in the few years before his death he is notable for having scored Kevin Browning's documentary 'Universal Horror' (1998), a tribute to the Universal monster pictures of the '30s and '40s, and the restored version of FW Murnau's 'Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie Des Grauens' (1922/1997).
