Henry Mancini

Success is not usually easy or fast.

— Henry Mancini

I would like a shot at Broadway.

— Henry Mancini

Cancer... changed my whole work attitude.

— Henry Mancini

I became a melodic writer after 'Gunn.'

— Henry Mancini

I just love what I do.

— Henry Mancini

I don't have a trunk of manuscripts.

— Henry Mancini

I play a very streamlined piano.

— Henry Mancini

Basically, I'm a melodic writer.

— Henry Mancini

You're molded by the period you were brought up in.

— Henry Mancini

In the mid-1930s, a lot of the Big Bands sounded the same.

— Henry Mancini

Music forced into the air you breathe is an invasion of privacy!

— Henry Mancini

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

— Henry Mancini

Erroll Garner is one of the few musicians I believe has a sense of humor in his music.

— Henry Mancini

It takes different mindsets to do different things.

— Henry Mancini

I very rarely write anything before what I see what I'm writing for.

— Henry Mancini

If a film is not doing well, a record company will not take a chance with the score.

— Henry Mancini

I've never gone to a singer with a song and said 'why don't you try this?' or tried to get a record…

— Henry Mancini

I've done entire scores for I don't know how many films and series. I never kept track; I suppose it's up in…

— Henry Mancini

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

— Henry Mancini

Bassoon is not an easy instrument to play and to pick it up and play it like a flute or a saxophone…

— Henry Mancini

Hopefully the music of the future will not be all electronic. There is a place for it if it is used sparingly.

— Henry Mancini

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

— Henry Mancini

I play citified Count Basie piano. As few notes as possible, my left hand in my pocket, that kind of stuff.

— Henry Mancini

I was never In a restaurant until after I left home. My mother came from Abruzzi and they're noted for their great…

— Henry Mancini

In 'Charade,' there was a big fight. George Kennedy was playing one of his first big heavy roles; he had a hook…

— Henry Mancini

It took me a long time to figure out what Holly Golightly was all about. One night after midnight I was still…

— Henry Mancini

You know, I started in movies a long time ago, and once in awhile I'm taken aback. Sometimes one of my things…

— Henry Mancini

The most immediately gratifying thing about my work is conducting a large orchestra. But the long range payoff is composing because you've…

— Henry Mancini

A good theme - like the 'Pink Panther' or 'Baby Elephant Walk' - can work all the way through the picture, which…

— Henry Mancini

When someone asks me to do a score, I look at the picture two or three times. I never watch the rushes…

— Henry Mancini

Some producers hang-on to that old cliche that if the audience hears the music, it is no good. I say this is…

— Henry Mancini

Blake Edwards has set up an extraordinary combination of moods in 'Peter Gunn.' When you stop to analyze it, you can't find…

— Henry Mancini

I equate composing with orchestrating. I think my music in terms of an orchestra.

— Henry Mancini

Most everything I've ever written has .been done to 'assignment.'

— Henry Mancini

I don't know if I've ever written a song that wasn't on assignment.

— Henry Mancini

I score everything by hand on manuscript paper and then make copies.

— Henry Mancini

Oh, I'd been writing cartoonish music pretty much all along.

— Henry Mancini

Themes on some TV shows are overdone. That 'Playhouse 90' theme music was an example.

— Henry Mancini

The basic problem with young people entering show business is that they are in a hurry.

— Henry Mancini

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

— Henry Mancini