Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Mancini's father, Quinto, was a steelworker, who made his only child begin flute lessons at the age of eight. When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After high school, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a South German concentration camp.
Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name composer of easy listening music.
Mancini's range also extended to orchestral and ethnic scores (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie", Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians), and darker themes ("Experiment In Terror," "The White Dawn," "Wait Until Dark," "The Night Visitor").
Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. Among the symphony orchestras he conducted are the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and with Andy Williams, who had sung many of Mancini's songs.[citation needed]
Mancini had experience with acting and voice roles. In 1994 he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?" Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.
Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20 Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.
Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career.
Mancini died at the age of 70 in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, California of pancreatic cancer. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria. At the time of his death, Mancini was married to singer Virginia "Ginny" O´Connor, with whom he had three children. Ginny Mancini went on to found the Society of Singers a non profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts and holds the annual Ella Awards.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.
Charade
Henry Mancini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We were like children posing
Playing at games, acting out names
Guessing the parts we played
Oh what a hit we made
We came on next to closing
Best on the bill, lovers until
Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wings
The music box played on
Sad little serenade
Song of my heart's composing
I hear it still, I always will
Best on the bill
Charade
The song Charade is about two people who are pretending to be someone they are not, and the thrill they get from it. They are like children, playing games and acting out different characters, trying to guess who the other person is pretending to be. They feel like they are the best act on the bill, and their love for each other is strong, but suddenly, love leaves them at the masquerade party. The song is a reflection on how the two people feel after the event is over, and they are forced to face the reality of who they truly are.
The lyrics show how the two people were so focused on their game of charades that they did not realize how fate was pulling the strings. When the party was over, the music box played on, but the girl was gone. The last verse of the song is a sad little serenade, a song of the composer's heart, and he hears it still, always will. The lyrics speak of the regret and the longing that the composer still has for the girl, and how he wishes she was still there with him.
Line by Line Meaning
When we played our charade
When we pretended to be someone else
We were like children posing
We acted like kids playing a game
Playing at games, acting out names
We played games and acted as different people
Guessing the parts we played
We tried to figure out who we were pretending to be
Oh what a hit we made
We were successful in our act
We came on next to closing
We were the final act
Best on the bill, lovers until
We were the best part of the show and acted like lovers
Love left the masquerade
Our love ended when the game was over
Fate seemed to pull the strings
It felt like destiny was controlling us
I turned and you were gone
When I looked for you, you were nowhere to be found
While from the darkened wings
From the shadows offstage
The music box played on
The music continued playing
Sad little serenade
A melancholic melody
Song of my heart's composing
A song that came from within me
I hear it still, I always will
I still hear the song and always will
Best on the bill, charade
The best act of the show was just pretend
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Henry Nicola Mancini, John H. Mercer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
BillSU77
Excellence in movie making, screenplay AND score. Mancini is at his best here arranging a very alive jazz orchestration to accompany the visuals.
Marty Emmons
This is a beautiful song. This video has great audio, I can hear every instrument clearly.
David Barnett
TCM aired the movie again this week. I saw it first run in theaters back in the day, and it still stands the test of time. Mancini? Genius!
Joe
I have yet to see North By Northwest.
Timothy Dalbeck
I once had this playing in my head, I woke up and immediately put the DVD in.
FloraFilms
Cary Grant whistles this tune in his last film, Walk Don’t Run. He is making coffee at about 13 minutes into the movie. A nice reminder of Charade from 3 years earlier.
Soraya Raza
And in Charade he walks Audrey to her 'street where she lives' ...My Fair Lady.
anibal cesar nishizk
🤗🤗
Grace Gorman
Love Henry Mancini's music.
Videos For People
Henry doesn't just MAKE jazz. He IS jazz.