Bernard was born and raised in Southern California where he grew up on the beaches and canals of Venice then later on 16th Street in Santa Monica. He graduated from Santa Monica High School in January of 1929 and went on to Santa Monica College and then UCLA. In 1932 he started working for Paramount Picture Studios in Hollywood, California as a prop man. On April 12, 1936 he married Margaret J. "Peg" Drake, his high school sweetheart. They had first met when they lived next-door to one another on 16th Street during high school. Together they had three children: Alan Bernard 1944, Kathleen Jo 1946, and James William 1947. Bernard was drafted into the Army in early 1943 and became a Staff Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corp. After the war he returned to Paramount and continued to work on set with some of the big name stars of that era, such as: Bob Hope, Being Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Cecil B. DeMille to name a few. In 1955 Bernard became the head of the property department at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. There he was on set with stars such as Fred MacMurray, Julie Andrews and Dick VanDyke, not to mention Old Yeller, the Shaggy Dog and That Darn Cat. He remained at Disney until his retirement in 1976, when he and Peg moved to Oceana, a retirement community in Oceanside, CA. Bernard and Peg continued to live there until their passing, Peg in June of 1992 and Bernard in September of 1994.
Bernard was born and raised in Southern California where he grew up on the beaches and canals of Venice then later on 16th Street in Santa Monica. He graduated from Santa Monica High School in January of 1929 and went on to Santa Monica College and then UCLA. In 1932 he started working for Paramount Picture Studios in Hollywood, California as a prop man. On April 12, 1936 he married Margaret J. "Peg" Drake, his high school sweetheart. They had first met when they lived next-door to one another on 16th Street during high school. Together they had three children: Alan Bernard 1944, Kathleen Jo 1946, and James William 1947. Bernard was drafted into the Army in early 1943 and became a Staff Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corp. After the war he returned to Paramount and continued to work on set with some of the big name stars of that era, such as: Bob Hope, Being Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Cecil B. DeMille to name a few. In 1955 Bernard became the head of the property department at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. There he was on set with stars such as Fred MacMurray, Julie Andrews and Dick VanDyke, not to mention Old Yeller, the Shaggy Dog and That Darn Cat. He remained at Disney until his retirement in 1976, when he and Peg moved to Oceana, a retirement community in Oceanside, CA. Bernard and Peg continued to live there until their passing, Peg in June of 1992 and Bernard in September of 1994.
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