
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                   TAG: 9406170197
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press|
DATELINE: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Short

MANCINI SUCCUMBS TO CANCER

Henry Mancini, 70, the four-time Oscar-winning composer who produced such songs as ``Moon River,'' ``Charade'' and ``Days of Wine and Roses,'' died Tuesday of complications of liver and pancreatic cancer.

Despite his illness, he continued working in a recording studio with lyricist Leslie Bricusse on a stage version of ``Victor-Victoria.'' They had won the Academy Award for their original score of the 1982 film that starred Julie Andrews and Robert Preston. In an interview shortly after his cancer was disclosed in March, he said work was the best therapy he knew. ``It's a strange thing. When I write, I don't think of anything but what I'm doing. I don't feel any different when I'm writing. I just go.''

``The world has lost a huge talent. We've lost a very dear friend,'' Andrews and her husband, Blake Edwards, said in a statement. Mancini wrote scores that were thoroughly hum-able. His themes for the ``Pink Panther'' comedies and the ``Peter Gunn'' and ``Mr. Lucky'' TV series became classics.

Nominated for Oscars 18 times, he won for the songs ``Moon River'' (1962) and ``Days of Wine and Roses'' (1963) and the scores of ``Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1962) and ``Victor-Victoria'' (1982).

He also collected 20 Grammys and six gold albums.

by CNB