James Bernard (composer)

James Michael Bernard (20 September 1925 – 12 July 2001) was a British film composer, particularly associated with horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions. Starting with The Quatermass Xperiment, he scored such classic films as The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. He also occasionally scored non-Hammer films including Windom's Way (1957) and Torture Garden (1967).

Bernard was educated at Wellington College, previously attended by Christopher Lee, the future star of many Hammer horror films Bernard was to score. In an interview late in his life, Bernard recalled that in his mid-teens three of his favourite books were The Devil Rides Out, She, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. While still a schoolboy, Bernard met Benjamin Britten when the composer came to consult the school's art master, Kenneth Green, about the stage designs for Peter Grimes. Britten took interest in an inter-house music composition, and advised Bernard on the music he was writing. The two stayed in touch during Bernard's service in the RAF from 1943 to 1946, and Britten encouraged him to learn the principles of composition. During the war, Bernard worked with the team dedicated to breaking the code of the German Enigma machine, specialising in deciphering intercepted Japanese messages. During those years, on occasion Bernard came to London to turn pages for Britten while he played piano in recitals.

In 1944 Bernard met Paul Dehn, who was then a Major working for Military Intelligence, Section 6 (MI6). This was the start of a lifelong partnership, the two moving in together in an apartment on King's Road while Bernard was still serving with the RAF in 1946.

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