Bernau showed a love for the theatre at an early age, and was frequently cast in high school plays.

Bernau trained in the drama department at the University of California before getting his big break, appearing in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Antony and Cleopatra in 1962.

He continued in that role until 1964, when he toured nationally in the production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

These roles, in addition to performing at Canada's Stratford Festival, led to an appearance in a brief story arc on Dark Shadows in 1969 and 1970, where he portrayed Philip Todd.

Bernau died of a heart attack brought on by complications from AIDS on June 14, 1989, at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West) in New York City at the age of 49.