Edward Bernds was born in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio club and obtained amateur licenses. In the early '20s there was considerable prestige for an amateur operator 's '30s classics. He later graduated to directing two-reel shorts and then features.
In 1956 Bernds was nominated for an Academy Award by accident. The Academy wished to recognize the script for the Bing Crosby /Grace Kelly film High Society , but accidentally gave the nod to a Bowery Boys epic of the same name, High Society , written by Bernds and Elwood Ullman. To the end of his life, Bernds loved to show visitors his framed Academy nomination certificate, on the back of which was taped a subsequent letter from the Academy, thanking him profusely for acknowledging the error and refusing the nomination.
Interviewed in the books "Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers" (McFarland & Co., 1988) and "A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde" (McFarland & Co., 2010) by Tom Weaver.
