Ennio Morricone, the prolific Italian composer for the movies, died at 91 on Monday, his lawyer announced.
HE REQUESTED A PRIVATE FUNERAL
A native and lifelong resident of Rome, Morricone won an Oscar for his work in American director Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015), and was also nominated for his original scores for Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978), Roland Joffe’s The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987), Barry Levinson’s Bugsy (1991) and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malena (2000).
“The Maestro” received an honorary Oscar in 2007, presented by Clint Eastwood, and collected 11 David di Donatello Awards, Italy’s highest film honors.
Morricone’s sounds enriched legendary Italian director Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — those three starred Eastwood — Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker (1971).
Morricone was born on Nov. 10, 1928, in Rome. His father, Mario, was a trumpet player, and trumpet was the first instrument Morricone played. He began writing music at age 6.