Edward Bernds (July 12, 1905 - May 20, 2000) was an American director born in Chicago, Illinois. While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur licenses.
In the early 1920's there was considerable prestige for an amateur operator to have commercial radio licenses, and Bernds was in a good position to get into broadcasting when he graduated in 1923, a year when radio stations began popping up all over Chicago. He found employment - at age 20 - as chief operator at Chicago's WENR.
When talking pictures burst onto the scene in the late 1920's, Bernds and broadcast operators like him relocated to Hollywood to work as sound technicians in "the talkies". After a brief stint at United Artists, Bernds quit and went to work at Columbia, where he worked as sound man on many of Frank Capra's '30s classics. He later graduated to directing two-reel shorts, including the Three Stooges, and then features.
Edward then died on May 20, 2000 in Van Nuys, California.
