Herrmann, Bernard

Herrmann, Bernard

(born June 29, 1911, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 24, 1975, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. composer. He studied at New York University and Juilliard and was one of a group of young composers associated with Charles Ives in the 1930s. Active in radio from 1930, he worked with Orson Welles, which led to a career in film. He wrote scores for Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942); other films include All That Money Can Buy (1941, Academy Award). He wrote the scores for eight of Alfred Hitchcock's films, including Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).

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Herrmann, Bernard (1911–75) composer, conductor; born in New York City. After studies at Juilliard he began conducting and composing for Columbia Broadcasting System Radio, where he met Orson Welles. Herrmann's 1940 score for Welles' Citizen Kane was the first of his 61 film scores, including several classic ones for Hitchcock. He wrote concert works as well.