Italian/American composer Henry Mancini would have been a hundred years old last April 16. He was born in Ohio to a family of Italian immigrants on April 16, 1924. He died on June 14, 1994 from pancreatic cancer. Mancini grew up to become a conductor, arranger, flutist, pianist, concert performer and one of the greatest composers in the history of film music. Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses, Music from Peter Gunn, theme from ‘The Pink Panther,’ Once is Not Enough, Charade and so many others.
Mancini grew up to become a conductor, arranger, flutist, pianist, concert performer and one of the greatest composers in the history of film music. Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses, Music from Peter Gunn, theme from “The Pink Panther,” Once is Not Enough, Charade and so many others. No wonder a lot of people want to celebrate him. I do, too.
There are more as I rediscovered while going over his bio for this piece. No wonder there was this pretty little tune The Sweetheart Tree at the end of “The Great Race.” It was by Mancini. Is there anything cuter than the Baby Elephant Walk from “Hatari.” He did the music for the most binged series of the ‘70s era “The Thornbirds.
Mancini recorded 90 albums during his lifetime. He was nominated 72 times at the Grammy Awards. He won 20 of them including Album of the Year for “The Music from Peter Gunn” in 1958, Best Instrumental Arrangement for A Time for Us, the love theme from “Romeo and Juliet” in 1969, then Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Moon River from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in 1961.