Legendary film composer Elmer Bernstein, who created the sprawling big-sky theme for 'The Magnificent Seven,' and childlike notes for 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' died Wednesday in his Ojai, CA home. He was 82.

Bernstein was a composer known and respected for his creativity, versatility and longevity, having written over 200 major film and television scores in a career that spanned over a half a century, his work touching on virtually all creative media.

Elmer Bernstein was born in New York City, April 4, 1922. He took easily to performing from a young age. As a child he performed professionally as a dancer and an actor and also won several prizes for his painting.

'As a four-year-old, I'm told, I used to climb up on to a chair and play records on our wind-up machine,' Bernstein had said in a 2002 BBC interview. 'My father collected opera and jazz recordings. My earliest musical memories are a mixture of Enrico Caruso, Louis Armstrong and a very popular song, La Paloma, which apparently I used to sing around the house.'

By age 12 Bernstein had taken up music and earned a scholarship to study piano at Juilliard, where he was taught by Henriette Michelson, who guided him throughout his entire career as a pianist. Miss Michelson had recognized Bernstein's early talents and took him to play some of his improvisations for composer Aaron Copland.

'Aaron Copland was my biggest single musical influence,' Bernstein said. 'Apart from my teacher, he was the first person to hear anything I wrote. Copland was good friends with my teacher who took me to meet him in his apartment... (she) made me play for him, asking if he thought I had any talent. 'Let's give him some lessons and find out!' he replied. That's really how my composition career started.'

Mr. Copland was encouraging and selected Israel Citkowitz as a mentor for the young Bernstein, who Bernstein later credited for all his musical training. Subsequently he went on to study with Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe.

It was while serving in World War II that Bernstein got his first big break arranging American folk music and writing dramatic scores for the Army Air Corps Radio Shows. In 1949 Bernstein did two shows for United Nations Radio which brought him to the attention of Sidney Buchman, then a Vice President of Columbia Pictures. Mr. Buchman offered him the opportunity to write the music for two projects, 'Saturday's Hero' in 1950 and 'Boots Malone' in 1951. But it was his unusual score for the Joan Crawford film 'Sudden Fear' that brought Bernstein some attention.

Then, during the Fifties McCarthy era, Bernstein was 'graylisted' for having been sympathetic to left-wing causes. During this time, Bernstein was forced to find work on low-budget science fiction films, 'Robot Monster' and 'Cat Women of the Moon.' Those two films, though B movies, became, and remain today, cult favorites. In spite of these small budget movies, or maybe because of them, Bernstein became known as a true innovator, pioneering early experiments in the use of electronic music.

'All of a sudden I found myself doing things like 'Robot Monster' and 'Cat-Women of the Moon,'' he joked in a 2003 interview. 'I didn't know what the devil was going on. But if you're going to do a really bad movie, at least you do one that is at the top of the all-time bad-movie list.'

Then came Bernstein's big double play. The film composer created back-to-back scores for 'The Ten Commandments' and 'The Man with the Golden Arm.' These two vastly different film scores -- one full of grand Biblical and orchestral power the other done with a small Jazz ensemble -- have been credited with virtually changing the sound of American film music for a whole generation of composers who would follow him.

He would go on to compose memorable themes for 'The Magnificent Seven,' 'Oklahoma,' 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'The Great Escape,' and several John Wayne westerns.

Not content to be defined to categories or genres, Bernstein broke new ground scoring some of the biggest blockbuster comedies of the 70s and 80s, like 'National Lampoon's Animal House'. Odd choices like this turned him into a highly sought after composer of other high-profile comedies, including 'Slap Shot,' 'Ghost Busters,' 'Meatballs,' 'Airplane!,' 'Heavy Metal,' 'Stripes,' and 'Trading Places,' which garnered Bernstein his twelfth Oscar nomination.

Through all his work, Bernstein found a focus on what inspired the projects he took. In a 2003 Newsweek interview, he said 'I did 10 years of comedies and 10 years of Westerns. I really like to stay away from car chases. I prefer the more intimate film. You have a much more direct association with the emotions.'

Bernstein's career has been littered with award nominations. He has been up for the Oscar 14 times, including his last nomination in 2002 for 'Far From Heaven,' but only won once, for 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' He's also had nominations from Emmys (winning once for 'The Making of the President'), Grammy's, Tony's, and Golden Globes.

Through 200 movies and 80 television shows, Bernstein would prove that he could adapt to any kind of music. It was his passion for music that made him experiment with new and different styles, and made him one of the most respected composers in contemporary times.

'There's no way I can compete with someone who can write rap or rock and roll. Nor do I wish to,' said Bernstein. 'But I've always kept up to date with music changes. I worked very hard not to type myself.'

He is survived by his wife, Eve, sons Peter and Gregory, daughters Emilie and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.