Composer Ennio Morricone Dies At Age 91

Ennio Morricone, one of the world’s most famous soundtrack composers, has died at the age of 91.

Morricone composed scores for over 400 movies dating back to Italian movies in the 50s. His big break came in 1964 when he was hired by Sergio Leone to create the score for ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ for a very young Clint Eastwood. That led to the Dollars trilogy with ‘For a Few Dollars More’ next in 18965 and ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ in 1966, all with Eastwood.

Ennio then went on the create ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ (1968), ‘Violent City’ starring Charles Bronson in 1970, and ‘Queimada’ starring Marlon Brando in 1969.

Quentin Tatantino to a liking to Ennio Morricone sound and started to use him in his movies. Ennio worked on ‘Kill Bill 1 and 2’, ‘Death Proof’ and ‘Django Unchained’ for Tarantino.

In popular culture Morricone influenced Radiohead, Dire Straits, Muse, and Gnarls Barkley. He was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2007 but didn’t win his first Oscar until 2016 for ‘The Hateful Eight’.

Ennio won his first Grammy in 1988 for ‘The Untouchables’.

Ennio married Maria Travia in 1956. She is a lyricist to many of his works. The couple lived in Italy. He suffered a fall on 6 July, 2020 and died from the injuries.