Victor Young had been hired to write the score for the dances of The Ten Commandments but he became very ill. You were then hired to write the score. But at the same time you'd written The Man with the Golden Arm score.

He received 14 Academy Award nominations and was nominated at least once per decade from the 1950s until the 2000s but his only win was for Thoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score. During his childhood Bernstein performed professionally as a dancer and an actor in the latter case playing the part of Caliban in The Tempest on Broadway and he also won several prizes for his painting. He gravitated toward music at the age of twelve at which time he was given a scholarship in piano by Henriette Michelson a Juilliard teacher who guided him throughout his entire career as a pianist.

He also won two Golden Globes and was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Bernstein won an Oscar for his score to Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and was nominated for fourteen Oscars in total.