The Pink Panther Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus. Not a remake of the original film, it forms a new starting point for a contemporary series, introducing the Clouseau and Dreyfus characters along with the famous diamond to a new generation. The sequel to Steve Martin's 2006 film. Martin reprises his role, but John Cleese replaces Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus. Although there are two later "Pink Panther" films starring Steve Martin, most of the films in the series starred Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and were directed and co-written by Blake Edwards. The jazz-based theme music was composed by Henry Mancini. In addition
Henry Mancini whom Mancini had a longstanding partnership was Stanley Donen ("Charade", "Arabesque", "Two for the Road"). Mancini also composed for Howard Hawks ("Man's Favorite Sport?", "Hatari!" – which included the well-known "Baby Elephant Walk"), Martin Ritt ("The Molly Maguires"), Vittorio de Sica ("Sunflower"), Norman Jewison ("Gaily, Gaily"), Paul Newman ("Sometimes a Great Notion", "The Glass Menagerie)", Stanley Kramer ("Oklahoma Crude"), George Roy Hill ("The Great Waldo Pepper"), Arthur Hiller ("Silver Streak"), Ted Kotcheff ("Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?"), and others. Mancini's score for the Alfred Hitchcock film "Frenzy" (1972) in Bachian organ andante, for organ and an orchestra