He is one of the best soundtrack composers of all time: Who is Henry Mancini?
He is a musical genius who has composed the music for many films, including Peter Gunn, Midnight Cowboy, A Hard Day's Night, Pink Panther, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70.
Henry Mancini, real name Enrico Nicola Mancini. (April 16, 1924, Cleveland, Ohio – June 14, 1994, Los Angeles, California). American composer and arranger of Italian origin.
The composer, who has composed numerous television and film scores, has many awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 1995.
He is a musical genius who has composed the music for many films, including Peter Gunn, Midnight Cowboy, A Hard Day's Night, Pink Panther, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70.
Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
One of the most fruitful collaborations in cinema history is that of musician Henry Mancini and writer/director Blake Edwards. It is also known that there is a great friendship behind this 35-year professional partnership, which has been the source of many unforgettable films and compositions.
Henry Mancini, who is considered one of the most popular and important film composers of all time, says that his interest in music gained another dimension thanks to cinema. While watching Cecil B DeMille's film (The Crusades, 1935), he was very impressed by Rudolph G Kopp's flamboyant compositions and became interested in film music at a young age. The most productive and memorable partnership of Mancini, who composed the theme music for nearly a hundred films and contributed to the music of many more films throughout his career spanning over 40 years, was undoubtedly with writer/director Blake Edwards.
The cinema adventure of these two men from the same generation begins around the same time.
The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship
Mancini, who worked as a pianist and arranger in the orchestra founded in the name of Glenn Miller after the Second World War, was already an appreciated musician when he moved into cinema in the 50s. He also earned his first Oscar nomination for The Glenn Miller Story, (1954), a biography of Glenn Miller directed by Anthony Mann. Mancini joined the music department of Universal Pictures in 1952 and composed the music for many of the studio's important films. However, he left Universal in 1958 and decided to continue his journey independently. Mancini, who contributed to the music of two of Edwards' films at Universal, Mister Cory (1957) and This Happy Feeling (1958), made his first creative collaboration with the director of the television series Peter Gunn (1958-1961).
Peter Gunn, which started airing in 1958 and lasted 114 episodes, was a turning point in the careers of both Edwards and Mancini. Edwards, the creator of the series, finally achieved the recognition he could not get with the movies he shot in the 50s and was nominated for an Emmy award in both the screenwriter and director categories. The album, which brought together Mancini's compositions for the series, was deemed worthy of a Grammy award. Peter Gunn's theme music actually pioneered the trend of using cool jazz arrangements in series credits and was reinterpreted and imitated countless times in the following years.
The success of Peter Gunn brought Edwards and Mancini together again for a television series. Mancini was once again nominated for a Grammy award with the music of this series called Mr Lucky (1959-1960). On the other hand, Edwards prefers to work with Mancini in movies. The duo's first big success in the field of cinema came in 1961. Adapted from Truman Capote's novel of the same name, Breakfast at Tiffany's achieved great commercial success, thus not only Edwards received unprecedented attention within the industry, but also Mancini won two Oscar awards for Best Song and Best Soundtrack.
Breakfast at Tiffany's is a typical 60s movie. Although the novel takes place in the 40s, the story has been moved to the 'present' in the cinema adaptation. The Givenchy-designed dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn in the role of Holly Golightly, the long cigarette holder in her hand, and the sunglasses she wears are iconic accessories that determine the fashion of the period. Intrigued by the elegance, fashion, and glamor of Manhattan high society life, the film almost completely misses the sadness of Capote's novel. He even makes up a love story and leans toward romantic comedy. For these reasons, it is often referred to as a 'free' adaptation. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the only element that brings the sadness of the original story to the film is the song 'Moon River', composed by Mancini and winning numerous awards.
The next year, Edwards and Mancini's collaboration led to a movie that made a splash with its hit song. The song of the same name, composed by Henry Mancini for Days of Wine and Roses (1962), brought the musician another Oscar award. On the other hand, Mancini also wrote songs for other films with songwriter Johnny Mercer, with whom he worked on both 'Moon River' and 'Days of Wine and Roses'; such as Stanley Donen's Charade, (1963).
'Musical' Comedy
Edwards and Mancini's collaboration, which is more famous than Peter Gunn and even Breakfast at Tiffany's, is undoubtedly the theme music of The Pink Panther (1963). After the success of this film, Blake Edwards' name became almost exclusively associated with the comedy genre throughout his career. This isn't too surprising, as Edwards and Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau provide a truly excellent example of the slapstick style. The most important elements in this style of physical comedy are timing and choreography. In other words, scenes need to work like music. In the Pink Panther films, which turned into a series in the following years, Mancini's compositions are similarly functional for comedy timing, both in animation credit sequences and song-oriented dance scenes. In these films, which can also be seen as a parody of detective stories, music is sometimes used for a reverse dramatic effect.
The Pink Panther is undoubtedly one of the most famous theme music in the history of cinema, probably the most played at cinema-themed events, but it has never gotten old. However, Mancini composes new compositions for all the films of the series. The 'Shadows of Paris' in the opening scene of A Scream in the Dark, which is, according to most critics, the best movie of the series and even one of the best comedies in the history of cinema, is truly unforgettable. Mancini, who won 4 Oscars and was nominated for this award 14 times throughout his career, received two of his nominations for the Pink Panther films.
Till Death Do Us Part
The partnership of Edwards and Mancini continued regularly after these great successes in the 60s. The most memorable examples from this period are 10 (1979), whose protagonist is a film score composer in a mid-life crisis, and Victor/Victoria (1982), which earned Mancini his fourth Oscar. The last film the two old friends worked on together was Son of Pink Panther (1993). Mancini died of pancreatic cancer in 1994. Edwards did not direct another feature film until his death in 2010, only co-directing a television remake of Victor/Victoria in 1995.
One of the comments that best describes the harmony in the collaboration of these two masters, who undoubtedly contributed greatly to each other's careers, belongs to the master actress Julie Andrews. Andrews, who was married to Edwards for 41 years and starred in many of the director's films, says: “Mancini would write with notes what Blake wrote for the characters with words. “His compositions always enriched the story.”