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Legendary Italian Composer Ennio Morricone Dead At 91

Ennio Morricone
Sven-Sebastian Sajak / CC BY-SA
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ROME, Italy (CelebrityAccess) — Ennio Morricone, the prolific Italian composer whose distinctive scores graced films ranging from Edouard Molinaro’s “La Cage aux Folles” (1978) to Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” has died. He was 91.

According to the New York Times, his death was confirmed by his attorney, Giorgio Assumma, who said that Morricone had been hospitalized after fracturing a femur in a fall last week.

Morricone, who has sold more than 70 million records worldwide, composed some of the most recognized film scores in history with compositions that include “The Ecstasy of Gold”, “Se Telefonando”, “Man with a Harmonica”, “Here’s to You”, “Chi Mai” which peaked at #2 in the UK, “Gabriel’s Oboe” and “E Più Ti Penso.”

Over the course of along career, Morricone was nominated for six Academy Awards but didn’t win his first competitive Oscar until 2016 for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s gritty western epic “The Hateful Eight.”

He also won three Grammy Awards including for the 1988 film “The Untouchables” and a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2019 for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

In addition to his work in film, Morricone was also a member of the avant-garde Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza, which performed free jazz and improvisational material. The group released seven albums, including the highly collectible 1970 release “The Feed-back.”

As a composer, Morricone is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Italian film-maker Sergio Leone, who directed a series of low budget western films starring a young Clint Eastwood. The films, which include “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) and “The Good The Bad And The Ugly” (1965) achieved international acclaim and spawned a renaissance in Italian cinema.

Morricone’s work on so-called “Sphagetti Westerns” influenced his later collaboration with stylistic genre director Quentin Tarantino, including work on films such as “Kill Bill”, “Inglorious Basterds”, and “Django Unchained.”

Along with his compositional work, Leone was also a noted conductor and led numerous orchestras, including Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta when they performed at Royal Albert Hall in 2010.


In November 2013, Morricone embarked on a world tour to mark the 50th anniversary of his film music career and performed at venues such as the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Santiago, Chile, Berlin, Germany (O2 World), Budapest, Hungary, and Vienna (Stadhalle).

He is survived by his wife Maria, three sons and a daughter. His attorney told Italian newspaper The Republic that his family intends to hold a private memorial service.

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