The Pink Panther The Pink Panther The Pink Panther is a British-American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic "Pink Panther" film in 1963. The role of Clouseau was originated by and is most closely associated with Peter Sellers. Most of the films were written and directed by Blake Edwards, with theme music composed by Henry Mancini. Elements and characters inspired by the films were adapted into other media, including books, comic books and animated series. The first film in the series
Henry Mancini of strings was rejected and replaced by Ron Goodwin's work. Mancini scored many TV movies, including "The Moneychangers", "The Thorn Birds" and "The Shadow Box". He wrote many television themes, including "Mr. Lucky" (starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin), "NBC Mystery Movie", "What's Happening!!", "Tic Tac Dough" (1990 version) and "Once Is Not Enough". In the 1984–85 television season, four series featured original Mancini themes: "Newhart", "Hotel", "Remington Steele", and "Ripley's Believe It or Not". Mancini also composed the "Viewer Mail" theme for "Late Night with David Letterman". Mancini composed the theme for "NBC Nightly News" used beginning in 1975,