Enrico Nicola Mancini (1924-1994), known professionally as Henry, is often cited as one of the all-time best composers for film. Among his many credits are music for The Pink Panther, Peter Gunn, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. These and his many other project earned him four Oscars and a whopping 20 Grammys over the course of his career. He was born in Ohio to an Italian immigrant family. He studied at the Juilliard School before joining the US Army Air Forces in World War II. After the war, he joined the Glenn Miller-Tex Beneke Orchestra as pianist and arranger. His Hollywood career began in 1952 when the music department of Universal-International. From 1958, he worked as an independent arranger and composer, producing numerous popular soundtracks, scores, and even a few charting singles. He also conducted over 600 concerts in his lifetime. His life is described in rich detail at Wikipedia, a website devoted to him, IMDb, the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Wise Music Classical, the Library of Congress, the Grammy Awards, the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mancini wrote Moon River for the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Audrey Hepburn. In it, she plays the eccentric Manhattan socialite Holly Golightly. Mancini wrote the song to suite Hepburn’s voice and range. It formed the bedrock for the film’s score as well. In the decades since, it has been recorded hundreds of times, including by Andy Williams as the introduction to his 1960s television show. Johnny Mercer penned the lyrics about his childhood in Savannah, Georgia, where the real Moon River actually flows. Here is Hepburn singing it in Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

And the single version released on from the original film soundtrack album:

Andy Williams’s version:

There is also a concert band arrangement of Moon River. Michael Brown arranged this version for band with flexible soloist:

Learn more about this classic song at Wikipedia, Songfacts, a 2015 BBC article, and Southern Living Magazine.