Ennio Morricone.

At Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Morricone studied trumpet alongside future collaborator Sergio Leone. His father Mario Morricone was a musician, likely guiding his direction. Early work included song arrangements and uncredited film scores, developing Morricone’s versatility.

Morricone’s breakthrough came when Sergio Leone hired him for A Fistful of Dollars 1964 based on his song arrangements. The score’s sparse arrangements and unusual instruments transformed Western film music. He went on to score Leone’s subsequent classics, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 1966 and Once Upon a Time in the West 1968. Beyond Westerns, he composed for Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers 1966, Roland Joffé’s The Mission 1986, Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables 1987, and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso 1988. In 2016, at age 87, Morricone won the competitive Academy Award for Best Original Score for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.

Morricone married Maria Travia in 1956, and they remained together until his death in 2020. They had two sons, Andrea and Giovanni, both of whom became composers. He spent his entire life in Italy, never learning English fluently, and refused multiple offers to move to Hollywood.

Morricone’s influence on film music is profound. His Western scores set a template that countless composers followed. Bands like Metallica adopted his work, using The Ecstasy of Gold to open concerts. He was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2007 and a competitive Oscar in 2016. At his death, he was remembered as a versatile and prolific film composer, with over 400 scores to his name.