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Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an Academy Award winning American composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, conductor
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
 and arranger. He is remembered particularly for being a composer of film and television scores. Mancini also won a record number of Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The Grammy Award Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording" ....
 in 1995. His best-known works are the jazz-idiom theme to The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1163 in film with the release of The Pink Panther ....
 film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and "Moon River
Moon River

"Moon River" is a song composed by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini in 1961, for whom it won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song. It is most well-known for being sung in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn, although it has been covered by many other artists....
".

ini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy
Little Italy, Cleveland

Little Italy is a neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio located at the base of Murray Hill, between Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood and the suburb of Cleveland Heights....
 neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
 in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

Aliquippa is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Formerly a borough, it was formally named a city in 1987 by the Aliquippa Council....
.






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Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an Academy Award winning American composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, conductor
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
 and arranger. He is remembered particularly for being a composer of film and television scores. Mancini also won a record number of Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

The Grammy Award Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording" ....
 in 1995. His best-known works are the jazz-idiom theme to The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1163 in film with the release of The Pink Panther ....
 film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and "Moon River
Moon River

"Moon River" is a song composed by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini in 1961, for whom it won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song. It is most well-known for being sung in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn, although it has been covered by many other artists....
".

Early life

Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy
Little Italy, Cleveland

Little Italy is a neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio located at the base of Murray Hill, between Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood and the suburb of Cleveland Heights....
 neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
 in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

Aliquippa is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Formerly a borough, it was formally named a city in 1987 by the Aliquippa Council....
. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo
Abruzzo

Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lies less than 50 miles due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east....
 region of Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
. Mancini's father, Quinto, was a steelworker, who made his only child begin flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
 lessons at the age of eight. When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After high school
High school

High school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides all or part of secondary education. The term originated in Scotland and spread to the New World countries as the high prestige that the Scottish educational system had at the time led several countries to employ Scottish educators to develop the...
, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a South German concentration camp.

Career

Upon discharge, Mancini entered the music industry. In 1946, he became a pianist and arranger for the newly re-formed Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller , was an United States jazz musician, arranger, composer, and band leader in the Swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big band"....
 Orchestra, led by Tex Beneke
Tex Beneke

Tex Beneke was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader, who is probably remembered best for his association -- and best-selling hit records -- with Glenn Miller's popular big band from 1938 to 1942....
. After World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Mancini broadened his composition, counterpoint, harmony and orchestration skills during studies with two acclaimed "serious" concert hall composers, Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek

Ernst Krenek was an Austrian composer. He explored atonality and other Contemporary classical music styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music ....
 and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italy List of composers. Born in Florence, he was descended from a prominent banking family that had lived in the city since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492....
.

In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures

This is a partial listing of films produced and/or distributed by Universal Pictures, the main film production company/distribution company arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal.List of films...
 music department. During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notably The Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space
It Came from Outer Space

It Came from Outer Space is a 1953 science fiction film 3-D films film directed by Jack Arnold , and starring Richard Carlson , Barbara Rush, and Charles Drake....
, Tarantula
Tarantula (film)

Tarantula is a 1955 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, and Mara Corday. Among other things, the film is notable for the appearance of a 25-year-old Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role as a jet pilot at the end of the film....
, This Island Earth, The Glenn Miller Story
The Glenn Miller Story

The Glenn Miller Story is a 1953 United States film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western movie collaboration....
 (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination), The Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman

Benjamin David Goodman, was an United States jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing ", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman"....
 Story and Orson Welles
Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , better known as Orson Welles, was an Academy Award-winning United States actor, director, writer and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio....
' Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil is an American police procedural film, written, directed and co-starring Orson Welles. Paul Monash and Franklin Coen also wrote scenes for the film....
. Mancini left Universal-International to work as an independent composer/arranger in 1958. Soon after, he scored the television series Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn

Peter Gunn is an United States detective fiction television programme which aired on the National Broadcasting Company and later American Broadcasting Company television networks from 1958 to 1961....
 for writer/producer Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards is an Academy Award-winning United States film director, screenwriter, and film producer.Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards was the son of a stage director....
, the genesis of a relationship which lasted over 35 years and produced nearly 30 films. Together with Alex North
Alex North

Alex North was an United States composer responsible for the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernism scores written in Hollywood, ....
, Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein

'Elmer Bernstein' was an Academy Award and two-time Golden Globe award winning American film score composer. He was famous for composing music for The Ten Commandments , The Man with the Golden Arm, The Great Escape , The Magnificent Seven, and To Kill a Mockingbird ....
, Leith Stevens
Leith Stevens

Leith Stevens was an United States composer.Born in Mount Moriah, Missouri, the former child prodigy worked as an arranger for CBS radio and went on to become a prolific composer of film scores....
 and Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel

Johnny Mandel is a Grammy Award-winning United States composer and arrangement of popular songs, film music and jazz.Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie , Frank Sinatra ...
, Henry Mancini was one of the pioneers who introduced jazz music into the late romantic orchestral film and TV scores prevalent at the time.

Mancini's scores for Blake Edwards included Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 in film United States film starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney....
 (with the standard, "Moon River
Moon River

"Moon River" is a song composed by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini in 1961, for whom it won that year's Academy Award for Best Original Song. It is most well-known for being sung in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn, although it has been covered by many other artists....
"), and with "Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses (song)

"Days of Wine and Roses" is a popular music song, from the 1962 in film Days of Wine and Roses .The music was written by Henry Mancini, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer....
," "Experiment in Terror
Experiment in Terror

Experiment in Terror is a 1962 in film crime film directed by Blake Edwards and written by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon based on their 1961 novel Operation Terror....
," The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (1963 film)

The Pink Panther, directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, is a comedy film, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale....
, (and all of its sequels, such as "A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark is a comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Clouseau of the French S?ret?....
"), The Great Race
The Great Race

The Great Race is a 1965 in film slapstick comedy movie film director by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan....
, The Party
The Party (film)

The Party is a 1968 comedy film written and film director by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for the comic talents of Sellers....
, "Victor/Victoria
Victor/Victoria

Victor Victoria is a 1982 in film musical comedy film, which involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston , Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras and John Rhys-Davies....
". Another director with a longstanding partnership with Mancini was Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen

Stanley Donen is an American film director and choreographer hailed by David Quinlan as "the King of the Hollywood musicals". His most famous work is Singin' in the Rain , which he co-directed with Gene Kelly....
 (Charade
Charade

Charade is a film written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. It also features Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin....
, Arabesque
Arabesque

The arabesque is an elaborative application of repeating geometry forms that often echo the forms of plants and animals. Arabesques are an element of Islamic art usually found decorating the walls of mosques....
, Two for the Road
Two for the Road

Two for the Road is a 1967 in film movie directed by Stanley Donen about the twelve-year relationship between an architecture and his wife ....
). Mancini also composed for Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks

Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, Film producer and writer of the Classical Hollywood cinema. He died in Palm Springs, California, California, after a fall....
 (Man's Favorite Sport, Hatari!
Hatari!

Hatari! is a 1962 United States film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne. The title means "danger" in Swahili, which was mentioned in the film as well....
 — which included the well-known "Baby Elephant Walk
Baby Elephant Walk

"Baby Elephant Walk" is a tune written in 1961 by composer Henry Mancini, for the 1962 release of the Film Hatari! The composer combines brass instruments and Woodwind instrument elements to convey the sense of a toddler that is large and plodding, but nonetheless filled with the exuberance of youth....
"), Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt

Martin Ritt was an United States Theater director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City....
 (The Molly Maguires), Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio de Sica

Vittorio De Sica was a critically acclaimed Italy Italian neorealism film director and actor....
 (Sunflower), Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison

Norman Frederick Jewison, Order of Canada is a Canada film director, Film producer and actor....
 (Gaily Gaily), Paul Newman
Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an United States actor, film director, entrepreneur, Humanitarianism, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations three Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a...
 (Sometimes a Great Notion, The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams that was originally written as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted . The play premiered in Chicago in 1944, and in 1945 won the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle Award....
), Stanley Kramer
Stanley Kramer

Stanley Kramer was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish-American film director and film producer responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous Social problem film....
's (Oklahoma Crude), George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill

George Roy Hill was an Academy Award-winning American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford....
 (The Great Waldo Pepper), Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller

Arthur Hiller, Order of Canada is a Canadian film director.Hiller was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, a Master of Arts degree in psychology in 1950 and received an Honorary degree Doctor of Laws in 1995....
 (Silver Streak), and Ted Kotcheff
Ted Kotcheff

Ted Kotcheff The son of immigrants from Macedonia, after graduating in English Literature from the University of Toronto, Kotcheff began his television career at the age of twenty-four when he joined the staff of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with television still very much in its infancy in the country....
 (Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?), and others. Mancini's score for the Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Order of the British Empire was a British filmmaker and film producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres....
 film, Frenzy
Frenzy

Frenzy is a Thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The film is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer....
 (1972), was rejected and replaced by Ron Goodwin
Ron Goodwin

Ronald Alfred Goodwin was a United Kingdom composer and Conducting known for his film scores....
's work.

Mancini scored many TV movies, including The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)

The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain , Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons....
 and The Shadow Box
The Shadow Box

The Shadow Box is a play written by actor Michael Cristofer. The play made its Broadway debut on March 31 1977. The original cast included Simon Oakland as Joe, Laurence Luckinbill as Brian, Mandy Patinkin as Mark, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Felicity, and Vincent Spano as Steve....
. He wrote his share of television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 themes, including Mr. Lucky (starring John Vivyan
John Vivyan

'John Vivyan' was an United States television actor active primarily between 1957 and 1970. He was most known for his role as the honest debonair gambler in the Columbia Broadcasting System adventure television series Mr....
 and Ross Martin
Ross Martin

'Ross Martin' was an United States of America actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the Western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr....
), NBC News Election Night Coverage, NBC Mystery Movie
NBC Mystery Movie

The NBC Mystery Movie is the umbrella title of an United States television series, produced by Universal Studios, that aired on NBC from 1971 in television-1977 in television....
, What's Happening!!
What's Happening!!

What's Happening!! is an American television Situation comedy that aired on American Broadcasting Company from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979....
, Newhart
Newhart

Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and his wife who owned and operated a historic inn located in a small Vermont rural town that was populated by eccentric characters....
, Remington Steele
Remington Steele

Remington Steele is an United States television series, produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 in television to 1987 in television....
, Tic Tac Dough (1990 version) and Hotel
Hotel (TV series)

Hotel is an United States prime time drama series which aired on American Broadcasting Company from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty ....
. Mancini also composed the "Viewer Mail" theme for Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman

Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 in television and went off the air in 1993 in television, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show with David Letterman on CBS....
.

Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band
Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
 to classical
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 to pop
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is the trade group that represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of a large number of private corporate entities such as record labels and distributors, which the RIAA claims "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recor...
. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records
RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986....
, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name composer of easy listening
Easy listening

Easy listening music is a style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the mid-20th century, evolving out of Swing music and big band music, and related to Beautiful music and Light music....
 music.

Mancini's range also extended to orchestral and ethnic scores (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie", Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians
The Hawaiians (film)

The Hawaiians is a 1970 in film United States historical film based on the novel Hawaii by James A. Michener.It was directed by Tom Gries and had screenplay by James R....
), and darker themes ("Experiment In Terror," "The White Dawn," "Wait Until Dark," "The Night Visitor").

Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony
Symphony

A symphony is a musical composition, often extended and usually for orchestra. "Symphony" does not imply a specific form. Many symphonies are tonality works in four movement with the first in sonata form, and this is often described by music theorists as the structure of a "Classical period " symphony, although even some symphonies by the ac...
 performances during his lifetime. Among the symphony orchestras he conducted are the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Arts Centre....
, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an United States orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September....
 and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"....
. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family
British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in his or her Commonwealth realm#The Crown in the Commonwealth realmss, thus sometimes at variance with official national terms for the family....
. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis is an United States singer of popular music.One of the last in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the 1960s, Mathis concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience through to the 1980s....
 and with Andy Williams
Andy Williams

Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is a legendary American pop singer. Andy Williams has recorded 18 gold and three platinum certified albums. When Ronald Reagan was president, he declared Andy's voice to be "a national treasure"....
, who had sung many of Mancini's songs.

Mancini had experience with acting and voice roles. In 1994 he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier
Frasier

Frasier is an American situation comedy broadcast on National Broadcasting Company for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004....
, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?" Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn
Gunn (film)

Gunn is a 1967 in film mystery film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Craig Stevens . It was a continuation of the 1958-1963 television series Peter Gunn....
, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn

Peter Gunn is an United States detective fiction television programme which aired on the National Broadcasting Company and later American Broadcasting Company television networks from 1958 to 1961....
, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.

Mancini died at the age of 70 in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
, California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a cancer of the pancreas. Each year in the United States, about 37,680 individuals are diagnosed with this condition and 34,290 die from the disease each year....
. He was working at the time on the Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 stage version of Victor/Victoria. At the time of his death, Mancini was married to singer Virginia "Ginny" O´Connor, with whom he had three children. Ginny Mancini went on to found the Society of Singers
Society of Singers

The Society of Singers is a 5013 non profit charitable organisation based in Sherman Oaks, California. Jerry F. Sharell is the current CEO. A New York based - Chapter East operates with Charles Wallert as the President....
 a non profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts and holds the annual Ella Awards. One of Mancini's twin daughters, Monica Mancini
Monica Mancini

Monica Mancini is an United States recording artist and concert performer.Monica Mancini is a Concord Record recording artist and 2005 Double-Grammy award nominee, who has carved out an impressive career as a singer and concert performer, appearing with major symphony orchestras worldwide....
, is a professional singer.

In 1996, the Henry Mancini Institute, an academy for young music professionals, was founded by Jack Elliott in Mancini's honor, and later under the direction of composer-conductor Patrick Williams. By the early 2000s, however, the institute could not sustain itself and closed its doors on December 31, 2006. However, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.

Awards


Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20 Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.

Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 for his original score of The Glenn Miller Story, on which he collaborated with Joseph Gershenson. He lost out to Adolph Deutsch
Adolph Deutsch

Adolph Deutsch was an Academy Awards-winning composer, conductor and arranger. He won Oscars for his background music for Oklahoma! , and for conducting the music for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Annie Get Your Gun ....
 and Saul Chaplin
Saul Chaplin

Saul Chaplin was one of Hollywood's preeminent composers and musical directors.He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York.He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley....
's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In 1962 he was nominated in the Best Music, Original Song category for "Bachelor in Paradise" from the film of the same name, in collaboration with lyricist
Lyricist

A lyricist is a writer who specializes in song lyrics, usually paid for by a band to write a custom song. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist....
 Mack David
Mack David

Mack David was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television in the 1960s, particularly his work on the Walt Disney Pictures films Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland ....
. That song did not win. However, Mancini did receive two Oscars that year: one in the same category, for the song "Moon River" (shared with lyricist Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer

John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American songwriter and singer. As a songwriter, he is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music....
), and one for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 in film United States film starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, and featuring Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney....
. The following year, he and Mercer took another Best Song award for "Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses (song)

"Days of Wine and Roses" is a popular music song, from the 1962 in film Days of Wine and Roses .The music was written by Henry Mancini, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer....
," another eponymous theme song. His next eleven nominations went for naught, but he finally garnered one last statuette working with lyricist Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse

Leslie Bricusse is a United Kingdom lyricist and composer.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers....
 on the score for Victor/Victoria
Victor/Victoria

Victor Victoria is a 1982 in film musical comedy film, which involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston , Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras and John Rhys-Davies....
, which won the "Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score" award for 1983. All three of the films for which he won were directed by Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards

Blake Edwards is an Academy Award-winning United States film director, screenwriter, and film producer.Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards was the son of a stage director....
. His score for Victor/Victoria was adapted for the 1995 Broadway musical of the same name
Victor/Victoria (musical)

Victor/Victoria is a musical theatre with a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material by Frank Wildhorn....
.

Discography (non-soundtracks, incomplete)

  • The Versatile Henry Mancini, Liberty LRP 3121
  • The Mancini Touch, RCA Victor LSP 2101
  • The Blues & the Beat, RCA Victor LSP-2147
  • Mr. Lucky Goes Latin, RCA Victor LSP-2360
  • Our Man in Hollywood, RCA Victor LSP-2604
  • Uniquely Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2692
  • The Best of Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2693
  • Mancini Plays Mancini, RCA Camden CAS-2158
  • Concert Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2897
  • Dear Heart and Other Songs, RCA Victor LSP-2990
  • Theme Scene, RCA Victor LSP-3052
  • Debut Conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, RCA Victor LSP-3106
  • The Best of, Vol. 3, RCA Victor LSP-3347
  • The Latin Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-3356
  • A Merry Mancini Christmas, RCA Victor LSP-3612
  • Pure Gold, RCA Victor LSP-3667
  • Mancini Country, RCA Victor LSP-3668
  • Mancini '67, RCA Victor LSP-3694
  • Music of Hawaii, RCA Victor LSP-3713
  • Brass on Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3756
  • A Warm Shade of Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3757
  • Big Latin Band, RCA Victor LSP-4049
  • Six Hours Past Sunset, RCA Victor LSP-4239
  • Theme music from Z & Other Film Music, RCA Victor LSP-4350
  • Big Screen-Little Screen, RCA Victor LSP-4630
  • Music from the TV Series "The Mancini Generation", RCA Victor LSP-4689
  • Brass, Ivory & Strings (with Doc Severinsen), RCA APL1-0098
  • The Theme Scene, RCA AQLI-3052
  • Country Gentleman, RCA APD1-0270 (Quadraphonic)
  • Hangin' Out, RCA CPL1-0672
  • Symphonic Soul, RCA APD1-1025 (Quadraphonic)
  • Mancini's Angels, RCA CPL1-2290
  • (with Johnny Mathis), The Hollywood Musicals, Columbia FC 40372
  • The Pink Panther Meets Speedy Gonzales, Koch Schwann CD
  • The Legendary Henry Mancini, BMG Australia 3 CD set


Soundtrack Albums (incomplete, CD and LP)

Many of Mancini's "soundtracks" are actually "Music from ...," which allowed him to rearrange the music to be more accessible and to release records without the expense of paying studio orchestra fees.

  • Music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP 1956
  • More music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP 2040
  • Music from Mr. Lucky, RCA Victor LSP 2198
  • Bachelor in Paradise, Film Score Monthly FSMCD vol. 7 Nr. 18
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's (Soundtrack), RCA Victor LSP-2362
  • Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
    Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

    Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is a 1962 United States comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara. The film is based on a novel by Edward Streeter and features popular singer Fabian ....
    , Intrada special collection vol. 11
  • Experiment in Terror
    Experiment in Terror

    Experiment in Terror is a 1962 in film crime film directed by Blake Edwards and written by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon based on their 1961 novel Operation Terror....
    , RCA Victor LSP-2442
  • Hatari!
    Hatari!

    Hatari! is a 1962 United States film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne. The title means "danger" in Swahili, which was mentioned in the film as well....
    , RCA Victor LSP-2559
  • Charade
    Charade

    Charade is a film written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. It also features Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin....
    , RCA Victor LSP-2755
  • The Pink Panther
    The Pink Panther (album)

    The Pink Panther is a 1964 album by Henry Mancini. It is a soundtrack from the film The Pink Panther. The retro cover art uses the image of the cartoon Pink Panther and incorporates mod elements such as the star above the I; this sets the tone for the music on the album....
    , RCA Victor LSP 2795
  • The Great Race
    The Great Race

    The Great Race is a 1965 in film slapstick comedy movie film director by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3402
  • Arabesque
    Arabesque

    The arabesque is an elaborative application of repeating geometry forms that often echo the forms of plants and animals. Arabesques are an element of Islamic art usually found decorating the walls of mosques....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3623
  • What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
    What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

    What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? is a 1966 in film comedy film written and directed by Blake Edwards....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3648
  • Two for the Road
    Two for the Road

    Two for the Road is a 1967 in film movie directed by Stanley Donen about the twelve-year relationship between an architecture and his wife ....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3802
  • Gunn
    Gunn (film)

    Gunn is a 1967 in film mystery film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Craig Stevens . It was a continuation of the 1958-1963 television series Peter Gunn....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3840
  • The Party
    The Party (film)

    The Party is a 1968 comedy film written and film director by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for the comic talents of Sellers....
    , RCA Victor LSP-3997
  • Me, Natalie
    Me, Natalie

    Me, Natalie is a 1969 in film United States dramedy film directed by Fred Coe. The screenplay by A. Martin Zweiback is based on an original story by Academy Award-winner Stanley Shapiro, who previously wrote Pillow Talk , Lover Come Back, and That Touch of Mink for Doris Day....
    , Columbia OS 3350
  • Visions of Eight, RCA Victor ABL1-0231
  • The Great Waldo Pepper
    The Great Waldo Pepper

    The Great Waldo Pepper is a 1975 in film drama film about a discontented Aviator played by Robert Redford....
    , MCA 2085
  • Darling Lili
    Darling Lili

    Darling Lili is a 1970 in film United States musical film. The screenplay was written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, who also directed....
    , RCA LSPX 1000
  • Gaily Gaily, UAS 5202
  • The Glass Menagerie
    The Glass Menagerie

    The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams that was originally written as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted . The play premiered in Chicago in 1944, and in 1945 won the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle Award....
    , MCA MCAD 6222
  • The Great Mouse Detective
    The Great Mouse Detective

    The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and was originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures....
    , Varèse Sarabande VSD 5359
  • The Hawaiians
    The Hawaiians (film)

    The Hawaiians is a 1970 in film United States historical film based on the novel Hawaii by James A. Michener.It was directed by Tom Gries and had screenplay by James R....
    , UAS 5210
  • Lifeforce, BSXCD 8844
  • The Molly Maguires
    The Molly Maguires (film)

    The Molly Maguires is a 1970 film based on a novel by Arthur H. Lewis that was directed by Martin Ritt.Set in late 19th-century Northeastern Pennsylvania, this social drama tells the story of an undercover detective sent to a coal mining community to expose a secret society of Irish-American miners battling exploitation at the hand of t...
    , Bay Cities BCD 3029
  • Oklahoma Crude, RCA APL1 0271
  • The Party
    The Party (film)

    The Party is a 1968 comedy film written and film director by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for the comic talents of Sellers....
    , RCA BVCP 1030
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again
    The Pink Panther Strikes Again

    The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and continues the story after the end of The Return of the Pink Panther....
    , UA-LA 694
  • Revenge of the Pink Panther
    Revenge of the Pink Panther

    Revenge of the Pink Panther is the sixth film in the Pink Panther film series and last with Peter Sellers . The opening credits were animated by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises....
    , EMI 791113-2
  • Santa Claus: The Movie
    Santa Claus: The Movie

    Santa Claus: The Movie is a 1985 in film Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film movie producer by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind....
    , EMI SJ 17177
  • Silver Streak, Intrada special collection vol. 5
  • Sometimes a Great Notion (1971 film), Decca DL 79185
  • Son of the Pink Panther
    Son of the Pink Panther

    Son of the Pink Panther was the ninth entry in the 30-year-old Pink Panther film series. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son....
    , Milan 21-16461-2
  • Sunflower
    Sunflower

    The sunflower is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae and native to the Americas, with a large flowering head . The stem can grow as high as 3 meters , and the flower head can reach 30 cm in diameter with the "large" seeds....
    , SLC SLCS 7035
  • The Thief Who Came to Dinner
    The Thief Who Came to Dinner

    The Thief Who Came to Dinner is a 1973 comedy film directed by Bud Yorkin and based on the novel by Terrence Lore Smith.Plot summary...
    , WB BS 2700
  • The Thorn Birds
    The Thorn Birds

    The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, an Australian author.In 1983 it was adapted as a The Thorn Birds that, during its television run March 27-30, became the United States' second highest rating mini-series of all time behind Roots ; both series were produced by television veteran David L....
    , Varèse Sarabande 30206 65642 8
  • Tom and Jerry - The Movie
    Tom and Jerry: The Movie (soundtrack)

    Tom and Jerry: The Movie is an original film soundtrack with music from the Tom and Jerry: The Movie starring world famous cartoon stars, Tom and Jerry. It was composed by Henry Mancini....
    , MCA MCD 10721
  • Touch of Evil
    Touch of Evil

    Touch of Evil is an American police procedural film, written, directed and co-starring Orson Welles. Paul Monash and Franklin Coen also wrote scenes for the film....
    , Movie Sound MSCD 401
  • Victor/Victoria
    Victor/Victoria

    Victor Victoria is a 1982 in film musical comedy film, which involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston , Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras and John Rhys-Davies....
    , GNP Crescendo GNPD 8038
  • W.C. Fields and Me
    W.C. Fields and Me

    W.C. Fields and Me is a 1976 United States biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by Bob Merrill is based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, the screen legend's mistress for the last fourteen years of his life....
    , MCA 2092
  • Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?
    Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?

    Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? is a 1978 in film comedy film starring George Segal, Jacqueline Bisset, and Robert Morley. It was based on a novel entitled Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe by Nan and Ivan Lyons....
    , Epic SE 35692
  • A Change of Seasons
    A Change of Seasons (film)

    A Change of Seasons is a 1980 United States dramedy film directed by Richard Lang. The screenplay by Erich Segal, Ronni Kern, and Fred Segal is based on a story by Erich Segal and Martin Ransohoff, who also produced....
  • Music from Condorman
    Condorman

    Condorman is a 1981 in film comedy/adventure film from Walt Disney Pictures starring Michael Crawford.Inspired by Robert Sheckley's The Game of X, Condorman follows comic book illustrator Woodrow Wilkins' attempts to assist in the defection of a female Soviet Union KGB agent....
    , 1981
  • Top Hat
    Top Hat

    Top Hat is a 1935 in film Screwball comedy film musical film comedy in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick ....
     Music from the films of Astaire and Rodgers, 1992 BMG Music


Bibliography

  • Mancini, Henry: Sounds And Scores: a practical guide to professional orchestration (Book on orchestration of popular music, 1962)
  • Mancini, Henry: Did they mention the music? (Autobiography, with Gene Lees, 1989)
  • Thomas, Tony: Music For The Movies (1973)
  • Thomas, Tony: Film Score (1979)
  • Larson, Randall: Henry Mancini: On Scoring Lifeforce and Santa Claus (interview)(in: CinemaScore #15, 1987)
  • Büdinger, Matthias: An interview with Henry Mancini (in: Soundtrack, vol. 7, No. 26, 1988)
  • Büdinger, Matthias: Henry Mancini (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 50, 1994)
  • Büdinger, Matthias: Henry Mancini remembered (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 51)
  • Büdinger, Matthias: Whistling Away The Dark. In: Film Score Monthly # 45, p. 7
  • Büdinger, Matthias: Henry Mancini 1924–1994. In: Film Score Monthly # 46/47, p. 5
  • Büdinger, Matthias: Feeling Fancy Free (in: Film Score Monthly vol. 10, No. 2)
  • Brown, Royal S.: Overtones and undertones — reading film music (1994)


External links

  • , Space Age Pop
  • , Soundtrackinfo