American musician, conductor, composer, writer and arranger who created memorable, elegant melodies and songs such as “Moon River” from Blake Edward’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Mancini achieved universal popularity with a prolific output of film music, garnering four Oscars and 20 Grammy awards. Mancini won his Oscars for “Moon River,” 1962, “Days of Wine and Roses,” 1963, the score for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Victor-Victoria” in 1983. He recorded more than 90 albums; six going gold. Mancini changed film and music history by departing from strictly classical music scores to introducing unprecedented contemporary scores to films. By his work, he won respect from others in the music industry and commercial success from the album purchasing public. He wrote his autobiography, “Did They Mention the Music?”
Proud of his Italian-American heritage, Mancini grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His father worked in a steel mill and spent his leisure playing flute in the local Sons of Italy band. His dad encouraged Mancini to take up music but his son preferred playing football. Reluctantly, he tinkered with the piano, flute and piccolo while his dad badgered him to practice – until his dad introduced him to jazz, when he changed his mind about music. He joined the school band and played in a dance band. At 13, he was playing the saxophone choruses from his Artie Shaw records. As a teen, he idolized Glenn Miller. In 1937, he won the position of first flutist in the Pennsylvania All-State Band. He graduated from high school in 1942 and went to study classical music at the Carnegie Institute of Technology Music School and then went to the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
During WWII, he served in the Army Air Corps and infantry arranging big band music for the Army band. After the war, he played piano for Glenn Miller’s band under the direction of Tex Beneke. With the demise in popularity for swing band music, Mancini came upon financial hardships. His lean years were between 1947-1952. Struggling to earn a living, he went to Hollywood and found employment with Universal Studios in the composing department in 1952. He contributed to more than 100 films in six years. In 1954, he gained attention and praise with his film score for the “Glenn Miller Story.” He earned his first Oscar nomination for film score for the movie.
Mancini’s big break occurred after a chance meeting with Blake Edwards outside the Universal barbershop in 1958. Edwards asked Mancini to score his new TV show theme “Peter Gunn.” Mancini created a cool, sophisticated jazz tune that was hummable and enhanced the mood and suspense of the show. He wrote memorable tunes for the films, “Days of Wine and Roses,” 1962, “Baby Elephant Walk” from “Hatari,” 1962, “Charade,” 1963, “Pink Panther,” 1964, “Love Story theme,” 1971, and “Victor, Victoria” in 1982. He composed music for TV with “Newhart,” 1982, and “The Thorn Birds” in 1983.
Mancini was a courteous maestro appearing in 50 sold-out concerts a year around the world. He conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Royal Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave command performances before Britain’s royal family in 1966, 1980 and 1984. In 1985, he was the Grand Marshal of the New York City Columbus Day Parade. In April 1994, he was awarded a Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award. On 4/19/1994, he was serenaded by Luciano Pavarotti and Andy Williams and was given a warm tribute by President Bill Clinton at a benefit concert tribute to Mancini and his music. The concert raised $2 million for the UCLA Center to the Performing Arts and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Mancini encouraged artists by establishing scholarships and fellowships for musical education. He wrote “Sounds and Scores,” a music textbook written for young music composers.
Mancini met his wife, singer Virginia O’Connor, when she was a backup singer in Mel Torme’s “Mel Tones.” The couple married in 1947 and had a son, Chris and twin daughters, Monica and Felice. His wife called herself, “Hank’s most severe critic.” The Mancini family lived in a 9,000-square-foot Holmby Hills home with swimming pool, tennis court and temperature-controlled wine cellar. Mancini was always called “Hank” by his friends. He would share a deep friendship with director Blake Edwards for more than 30 years and 25 films. A modest, soft-spoken man, Mancini was a perfectionist who demanded professionalism from the musicians he conducted from the podium. Mancini considered the “Peter Gunn” theme his most memorable music in terms of popularity. Artistically, he felt the “Touch of Evil” score was his best.
Mancini was working on the Broadway show “Victor-Victoria” when he was notified by doctors of his pancreatic and liver cancer in February 1994. He died four months later on 14 June 1994 at age 70 at home in Los Angeles with his wife Ginny by his side.
Link to Wikipedia biography