The Pink Panther Theme The Pink Panther Theme "The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film "The Pink Panther" and subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 37th Academy Awards but lost to the Sherman Brothers for "Mary Poppins". The eponymous cartoon character created for the film's opening credits by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. The tenor saxophone solo was played by Plas Johnson. The song was included on the film's soundtrack album and issued as a single (in the United
Henry Mancini their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "Charade" (1963), "Hatari!" (1962), "Touch of Evil" (1958) and "Wait Until Dark" (1967) were also nominated for the list. Mancini was nominated for seventy-two Grammy Awards and won twenty. He was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards and won four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmy Awards. In 1961, Mancini won two Academy Awards, one for "Moon River" for Best Original Song and one for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture for the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's". In