Henry Mancini

I've had pieces in my catalog that kind of amble along, that really never go anywhere, but are known and liked.

I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour on any one song, but that doesn't count the thinking that goes on beforehand.

You know, directors are funny people. They live with these movies for a year or more. And when you go in to score the picture, you're fooling with their child. They want to know everything that happens to the score - and why.

Well, I thought the opening of 'Hatari!' was pretty good. And 'The Pink Panther' wasn't half bad either.

Music is constantly developing and changing.

Music has been taken over in this country by personalities and dominated by rock 'n' roll. There's been a synthesizer invasion and it's not going to go away.

I became a melodic writer after 'Gunn.'

As a screen composer or film-music writer, I need something that I can work with in the body of the score. Like 'Charade,' 'Moon River,' 'Wine and Roses,' 'Dear Heart' - they were all just themes that grew out of the picture.

I'm no songwriter because all of my popular songs have just been outgrowths of themes for the various pictures.

If you call making people smile with 'The Pink Panther,' then I made a contribution.

In 'Charade,' there was a big fight. George Kennedy was playing one of his first big heavy roles; he had a hook for a hand, and he was real ugly. Cary Grant was Cary Grant. They were on a slanted roof, a very exciting fight, and we agreed there shouldn't be any music, just the grunts and the action.

I find I work best as a reactor, trying to portray something on a screen musically. If I were a boxer, I'd be a counter-puncher.

I don't pretend to want to write the Great American Symphony.

Technique is superficial. The method used in applying technique is what gives music its character.

I wanted to be up there with all those names like Max Steiner.

I wanted to write picture music ever since I was a kid.

I'm usually the last man on the totem pole. Except for the sound effects and the final sound mix, the score is the last element to be added to a picture.

My father started me out on the flute and I began going to teachers.

Too many schools across the country have cut back heavily on their music curricula.

Amplification of guitars revolutionized the popular music scene. Youngsters look for quick fame and big money with amplified guitars and working with rock groups.