"The Pink Panther Theme" is an instrumental jazz composition by Henry Mancini, written in 1963 as the theme for Blake Edwards' film The Pink Panther. It plays over the opening credits, where an animated cartoon character created by David DePatie and Friz Freleng moves in time with the tune. Mancini wrote accents to match the animators' timed actions, and the tenor saxophone solo was written for Plas Johnson. The tune is in E minor, moves to G minor for a bridge and then returns to the original key.
The original recording, credited to Henry Mancini and His Orchestra on RCA Victor, was made in 1963 with producer Joe Reisman. It appeared on the soundtrack album The Pink Panther and was issued as a US single in 1964. It reached the US Billboard adult contemporary Top 10, won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The theme appeared in the opening credits of all Pink Panther films except A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. Later uses include a disco-style reworking in Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and Bobby McFerrin's a cappella version in Son of the Pink Panther (1993).
