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
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (theme) film. This instrumental composition plays at the beginning of the film. Largely due to the memorable quality of the main theme, the film's soundtrack peaked at #4 on the "Billboard" 200 album chart, and it stayed on this chart for over a year. Hugo Montenegro was an American composer and orchestra leader who began scoring films in the 1960s. After hearing the music from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", he decided to create a cover version of the theme. Musician Tommy Morgan is quoted in Wesley Hyatt's "The Billboard Book of#1 Adult Contemporary Hits" as saying that Montenegro's