Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini

Cleveland-born composer of the Peter Gunn and Pink Panther themes and of 'Moon River', winner of four Academy Awards and twenty Grammys.

Born April 16, 1924, Cleveland
Died June 14, 1994, Los Angeles, CA

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: April 16, 1924, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) source
Died: June 14, 1994, Los Angeles, CA source
Buried: Cremated; ashes given to family source
Also known as: Enrico Nicola Mancini
Education: Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA
: Juilliard School, New York
Known as: Music

Life story

Henry Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in Cleveland in 1924 to Italian immigrant parents, and grew up in West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

He began on piccolo at eight and piano at twelve, then studied at Carnegie Tech and Juilliard. In the Army Air Forces he met Glenn Miller and later played piano and arranged for the Miller orchestra.

He scored more than 100 films at Universal-International from 1952 to 1958, then worked with director Blake Edwards on Peter Gunn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Pink Panther films.

He won four Academy Awards and 20 Grammys and died in Los Angeles in 1994. His Ohio link is his birth only.

Ohio ties

Cleveland (1924-late 1920s)
birthplace; the family lived there until his father took a steel-mill job in Pennsylvania Cuyahoga County · source

Timeline

1924 Born Enrico Nicola Mancini in Cleveland on 16 April, son of Quintiliano 'Quinto' Mancini, from Scanno in Abruzzo, and Anna Pece, from Forlì del Sannio in Molise. source
late 1920s The family left Cleveland when his father took a job at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company's Beaver County mill, settling in West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. source
1932 Began learning the piccolo at age eight from his father, and later played flute in the Sons of Italy band in West Aliquippa. source
1936 Began studying piano and orchestral arranging at 12 with Max Adkins, conductor at Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre. source
1942 Graduated from Aliquippa High School, attended Carnegie Tech and then transferred to the Juilliard School. source
1943 Enlisted in the Army Air Forces and, on Glenn Miller's recommendation, was assigned to the 28th Air Force Band before going overseas. source
1945 Serving with the 1306th Engineers in Europe, helped liberate the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. source
1946 Became pianist and arranger for the re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra under Tex Beneke. source
1952 Joined Universal-International's music department, contributing to more than 100 films including Creature from the Black Lagoon and Touch of Evil. source
1958 Went independent and scored Blake Edwards's television series Peter Gunn; The Music from Peter Gunn won the first Grammy for Album of the Year. source
1961 Won two Academy Awards for Breakfast at Tiffany's, for 'Moon River' and for the score. source
1962 Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Days of Wine and Roses'. source
1963 Wrote 'The Pink Panther Theme' for Blake Edwards's film. source
1969 His arrangement of the 'Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet' reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. source
1982 Won his fourth Academy Award, for the adaptation score of Victor/Victoria. source
1994 Died of cancer in Los Angeles on 14 June while working on the Broadway version of Victor/Victoria; he was cremated. source
2004 The U.S. Postal Service issued a 37-cent commemorative stamp on 13 April, painted by Victor Stabin, showing him conducting before a list of his themes. source

What Henry is known for

'Moon River' (Breakfast at Tiffany's)
Pink Panther theme
4 Academy Awards, 20 Grammys
Peter Gunn
Breakfast at Tiffany's score and Moon River
The Pink Panther theme

Stories

Born in Cleveland, raised by a mill

Mancini always called West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, his hometown, so many people assume he was born there. In his autobiography, Did They Mention the Music?, he set the record straight: 'I was actually born in Cleveland on April 16, 1924.' His parents were Italian immigrants, and in the late 1920s his father Quinto took a job at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company's mill in Beaver County, moving the family down the Ohio River valley. Quinto was a keen amateur flautist who played in the Sons of Italy band; he started his son on the piccolo at eight, and the boy was soon playing beside him.

Source

From The Crusades to Universal

Mancini said that hearing Rudolph Kopp's score for Cecil B. DeMille's 1935 film The Crusades made him want to write film music, though his father hoped he would become a teacher. At 12 he began studying with Max Adkins, conductor at Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre, who had him writing arrangements for the theatre's bands and introduced him to Benny Goodman, for whom he wrote an arrangement. His biographer John Caps wrote that he preferred arranging to performing. That training paid off in 1952, when he joined Universal-International's music department and spent six years writing for more than 100 films, from Creature from the Black Lagoon to Orson Welles's Touch of Evil.

Source

A Glenn Miller connection

During basic training in Atlantic City in 1943, Mancini met musicians being recruited by Glenn Miller, and on Miller's recommendation he was posted to the 28th Air Force Band before going overseas with an engineers' brigade. In 1945 he helped liberate the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. After the war he joined the re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra under Tex Beneke as pianist and arranger, and his later work on the score of The Glenn Miller Story earned his first Academy Award nomination.

Source

Honors and things named for them

4 Academy Awards
20 Grammy Awards
Henry Mancini Arts Academy, Pennsylvania (2005)

Family

wife: Virginia 'Ginny' O'Connor
son: Christopher Mancini
daughter: Monica Mancini
daughter: Felice Mancini

Ohio places

Where Henry Mancini was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44114 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Henry Mancini, and what the record shows.

Often said Henry Mancini was born in Pennsylvania.

The record He grew up in West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and called it his hometown, but his autobiography says he was born in Cleveland on 16 April 1924; the family moved when his father got a mill job in the late 1920s. source

Often said Mancini died in 1944 (as the Recording Academy's artist page states).

The record He died on 14 June 1994, aged 70; the Grammy page's 1944 is a typo, since his first Grammys came in 1959. source

Often claimed as an Ohio native son of Aliquippa; he was born in Cleveland but raised in Pennsylvania.

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Henry Mancini papers, 1930s-2000s, finding aid, Music Division, Library of Congress 1930s-2000s, Library of Congress, Music Division
Henry Mancini interview, John Gilliland's Pop Chronicles, Show 23 (radio, February 1969) 1969, University of North Texas Digital Library
San Francisco Chronicle, 26 June 1989, Golden Plate awards coverage (PDF) 1989, American Academy of Achievement

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Vinyl 7" Single of song "Moon River" composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally...
Public domain
Advertisement for Henry Mancini's single, "Wait Until Dark". 14 October 1967 Billboard.
Public domain
GRAMMY AWARDS—Henry Mancini, left, was a triple winner at the Grammy awards dinner of the National Academy of ...
Los Angeles Times / CC BY 4.0
GRAMMY AWARDS—Henry Mancini, left, was a triple winner at the Grammy awards dinner of the National Academy of ...
Los Angeles Times / CC BY 4.0
8-Track Cartridges at a flea market
Rick Harris from Toronto, Ontario, Canada / CC BY-SA 2.0