Henry Mancini, born Enrico Nicola Mancini on April 16, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, was an American composer, arranger, and conductor. Mancini entered the film industry in 1952 with a short stint at Universal, where he arranged music for Abbott and Costello films and eventually earned his first Oscar nomination in 1954 for The Glenn Miller Story. In 1957 he joined the Peter Gunn television series, producing the soundtrack that won the inaugural Grammy for Album of the Year in 1959. His breakthrough came with the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, where the song "Moon River" achieved international acclaim and chart success. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Mancini released a series of successful studio albums, including Uniquely Mancini (1963) and Six Hours Past Sunset (1969), and composed scores for collaborations with directors Blake Edwards, Stanley Donen, and Howard Hawks. He received 18 Oscar nominations, winning four, 20 Grammys, and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Mancini died on June 14, 1994 in Los Angeles California.
