Born in Chicago, IL. Started out as a sound technician in the early 1930s. A director from the late 40s, he turned out many low-budget films for Columbia, Fox, and Allied Artists, among other studios, often writing his own scripts. His films include several installments in the "Blondie" and "Bowery Boys" series, as well as a couple of Three Stooges comedy features. He also directed several Three Stooges shorts. Typical titles during this period include HAREM GIRL (1952, with Joan Davis), THE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS (1954), REFORM SCHOOL GIRL (1957), QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE (1958), and RETURN OF THE FLY (1959).

In 1956, Variety dubbed his nomination as "the biggest boo-boo in Academy nomination history." Among the nominees for Best Motion Picture Story was HIGH SOCIETY, although the MGM musical was an adaptation of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and, thus, wasn't an original story at all. Adding to the confusion was the fact that the nominated writers -- Bernds and Elwood Ullman -- weren't the guys who had written the musical, either. Investigation revealed that Bernds and Ullman had written a film called HIGH SOCIETY in 1956 -- only it was a Bowery Boys movie. At first the Academy maintained that the Writers Branch had intended to nominate the Bowery Boys movie, but then Bernds and Ullman sent a telegram to the Board of Governors stating, "Since our nomination is apparently a case of mistaken identity, we wish to withdraw our names from consideration." 1  Nominated for Writing (Motion Picture Story) 1956: HIGH SOCIETY (w. Elwood Ullman) -- Nomination withdrawn from final ballot. 1 withdrawn nomination 1 Wiley & Bona: Inside Oscar pp. 273-274