Renowned Oscar-winning Italian composter Ennio Morricone has died at the age of 91. Morricone died in Rome following complications from a fall last week in which he broke his femur.
Incredibly prolific, Morricone has scored over 400 films and TV works over six decades though is arguably most famous for his collaborations with Sergio Leone on all but one of his iconic westerns like “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” and “A Fistful of Dollars” along with Leone’s other work like “Once Upon a Time in America”.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg that is Morricone’s work. He won both an Honorary Oscar for his body of work and one individually for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”. He was also nominated for Rolland Joffe’s “The Mission,” Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven,” Barry Levinson’s “Bugsy,” Brian DePalma’s “The Untouchables” and Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Malena”.
He was well known for being the go-to composer for numerous directors aside from Leone. He worked on effectively every Tarantino film since “Kill Bill,” did six films with Dario Argento including “The Bird with the Crystal Plummage” and “The Cat O’ Nine Tails,” seven films with Pier Paolo Pasolini including “Salo” and “The Decameron,” thirteen films with Giuseppe Tornatore including “The Legend of 1900” and “Cinema Paradiso,” five films with Bernardo Bertolucci including “Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man” and “Partner” and more.
Other famed works include John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Time Me Up Time Me Down”), Edwardo Molinaro’s “La Cage Aux Folles,” Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers,” Wolfgang Petersen’s “In the Line of Fire” Warren Beatty’s “Bulworth,” Mike Nichols’ “Wolf,” William Friedkin’s “Rampage,” John Boorman’s “Exorcist II: The Heretic,” Oliver Stone’s “U-Turn” and Barry Levinson’s “Disclosure”. “Ripley’s Game,” “Red Sonja,” “Butterfly,” “City of Joy,” “Frantic,” and so many more it’s hard to even know where to begin.
I’ll always remember him for the sweeping emotional soaring music set against the Iguazu waterfalls in the opening of “The Mission,” the iconic harmonica meets electric guitar grind of “Once Upon a Time in the West,” the all so familiar whistles of “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” and the pulsing foreboding throbbing of “The Thing”.
Our sincerest condolensces go out to his family, friends and many fans.
