 In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal-International's music department.During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notably "Creature from the Black Lagoon", "The Creature Walks Among Us", "It Came from Outer Space", "Tarantula", "This Island Earth", "The Glenn Miller Story" (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination), "The Benny Goodman Story" and Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil".During this time, he also wrote some popular songs.