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 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