Remember the movie Victor/Victoria?
The star of the movie was Julie Andrews, an actress that I’ve enjoyed ever since she was in Mary Poppins when I was in second grade. She was married to the writer and director, Blake Edwards.
It seemed to me that there were two names that came up together all the time: Edwards and composer/conductor/arranger extraordinaire Henry Mancini. I checked IMDb for the times they collaborated, and came up with this list of over two hundred times they worked together. Many of those collaborations were with either Ms. Andrews or Peter Sellers.
But, not always. There were two TV series from the late Fifties and early Sixties. One was Peter Gunn.
The other was the less well-known Mr. Lucky.
Most of the collaborations they had with Peter Sellers involved the Pink Panther movies and the TV cartoon.
But let’s not forget The Party. I was twelve when this movie came out, and I remember laughing myself sick at this one. It’s worth seeing.
By far, my favorite collaboration was Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Based on the novel by Truman Capote, it starred Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Mom and Dad (and probably thousands of couples around the world) considered this “their song.”
Again, what do all of these have in common? Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
Now I’ve got the Peter Gunn theme in my head – my friend plays in a surfer/garage type band and they used to always cover that song – fun!
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For me, it’s the Pink Panther theme that I can’t stop hearing in my head.
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Oh yes, that one too! My daughter loves that. Of course, she only knows the pink cartoon cat and not the real deal!
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Victor/Victoria. Truly a classic for me anyway. When I was in high school band, we always had a concert in the spring with a big name conductor. I know I played a flute solo for Nelson Riddle, and “think” Henry Mancini was a conductor at some point too. Wish I could remember.
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Nelson Riddle… wow. He and his orchestra backed Sinatra late in Old Blue Eyes’ career, and who can forget the “Batman Theme”? That must have been great.
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glad you looked that up, John. i had no idea.
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I knew they had done a lot of work together, but I had no idea that they had done that much. They were both such talented individuals, but when they worked together, it was magic.
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