Henry Mancini

What makes Henry Mancini’s film music immediately recognisable and evergreen is his infusion of a truly American sound into a European style of film scoring. Born in Cleveland in 1924 and raised in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, Mancini was a supreme craftsman, giving us unforgettable songs like the nostalgic, Oscar-winning “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and “Days of Wine and Roses” from the movie of the same name. Showcasing a different side of his diverse sound palette, the themes for The Pink Panther and for the TV show Peter Gunn have a cool, jazzy presence, echoing the influential Glenn Miller Orchestra, in which Mancini worked as a pianist and arranger after serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. The Mancini sound we know today can be traced back to 1952, when he joined Universal Pictures, working on more than 100 movies in just six years; The Glenn Miller Story (1954) landed him his first Academy Award nomination. In a career that spanned another 40 years, Mancini became both a Hollywood icon and a songwriter of beloved pop standards before passing away in 1994.