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Mancini Henry 1924 - 1994 (70)


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Enrico Nicola "Henry" Mancini (1924 - 1994) was an Italian-American composer, conductor and orchestrator, he is considered as one of the most important composers in the history of cinema.

Mancini was born on April 16, 1924, in the "Little Italy" district of Cleveland, but grew up near Pittsburgh, in the small steel town of Alikipa. His parents were immigrants from the Abruzzo region of Italy. His father was a steelworker and amateur musician in the "Sons of Italy" orchestra of Italian immigrants. At the age of 12, Enrico began taking piano lessons.

After graduating from high school in 1942, he began studying at the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York but his studies were interrupted after a year, when he was enlisted in the US Army. In 1945 he took part in the liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. Once realished, he was hired as a pianist and orchestrator for Glen Miller's new swing orchestra. Mancini at that time took care to expand his skills in composition, harmony and orchestration, taking classes close to the most famous composers.

In 1952 he was hired by the music department of the Universal motion picture company. Over the next 6 years, he contributed to the music of over 100 films. He left Universal to work as a freelance composer in 1958. Shortly afterwards, he wrote the music for the television series Peter Gunn for writer and producer Blake Edwards. This was the beginning of a 35-year collaboration with Edwards that would produce 30 films, including Breakfast at Tiffany's (with the famous song "Moon River", Wine and Flower Days) with the Oscar-winning title song ), The Pink Panther (and all sequels), The Party, 10, Victor-Victoria and others.

During his career, Mancini won four Oscars, one Golden Globe and twenty Grammys (plus one posthumous Grammy for his entire work). He died on June 14, 1994 of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles, while working on the theatrical production of "Victor-Victoria", which he did not see on stage.