Mancini Henry, *16 April 1924 Cleveland (Ohio), †14 June 1994 Los Angeles (Beverly Hills), American arranger, composer, orchestral director and pianist. As a child, he played the flute and then studied with M. Adkins in Pittsburgh. In 1942, he began studies at the Juilliard Graduate School in New York, interrupted by military service. After the end of World War II, he worked as a pianist and arranger with T. Beneke (the then leader of the G. Miller orchestra) and studied privately with E. Křenek, M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, A. Sendrey in Los Angeles. In 1952–58, he collaborated with the Universal-International Film Studio, creating or arranging music for over 100 films, including those dedicated to jazz artists: The Glenn Miller Story (dir. A. Mann, 1953), The Benny Goodman Story (dir. A. Rosenberg, 1956) or Touch of Evil (dir. O. Welles, 1958, music about Afro-Cuban jazz wording). Mancini also gained recognition as the director of an orchestra performing popular music. He created a new style in his compositions, using elements of jazz, especially the cool sound (music for television series, including Peter Gunn, directed by B. Edwards, 1958, or the film series The Pink Panther, 1964). At the same time, he composed many songs, of which Moon River (for the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, directed by B. Edwards, 1961) and Days of Wine and Roses (directed by W. Manulis, 1962) received Academy Awards. In 1962, his arrangement manual Sounds and Scores was published. Mancini’s studio arrangements (e.g. the 1983 album The Thorn Birds recorded with J.P. Rampal) became bestsellers. Mancini released his autobiography Did They Mention the Music? (Chicago 1989).
