He won an Oscar after scoring Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.Known for putting the music to "spaghetti" Westerns that made Clint Eastwood a star, Morricone scored over 500 films in seven decades.Here are pictures from his life and stills from some of the films he worked on.Born in 1928, Morricone followed in the footsteps of his jazz trumpeter father and took up the instrument as a child, writing short compositions by the time he was six.At the Santa Cecilia Conservatory music school in Rome, he was classmates with Sergio Leone.They went on to form a director/composer partnership, with Morricone's early career marked by his scoring of "spaghetti" Westerns directed by Leone in the 1960s, such as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.With very little budget, Morricone used electric guitars and sound effects to punctuate the action on screen.The composer's sparse soundtracks were an iconic component of Leone's revolutionary take on the Western genre.In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the sounds of coyotes, trotting of drum rhythms and electric guitar twangs made the soundtrack a worldwide hit, reaching number one in the UK chart in 1968.According to director Edgar Wright, Morricone "could make an average movie into a must-see, a good movie into art, and a great movie into legend".Despite the temptation of Hollywood, Morricone never left his Italian hometown.

Yet he remains best known for the haunting melodies he wrote for the trilogy of 1960s westerns Sergio Leone made with the then little-known Eastwood.A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly centred around Eastwood's taciturn gunslinger, known as "The Man With No Name".Leone called the composer's contributions "indispensable" and would have him write the score before shooting so he could design his shots around Morricone's contributions.Eastwood went on to direct Westerns himself, including the Oscar-winning Unforgiven, but Morricone did not write music for them out of loyalty to Leone.In a 2014 interview with the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz he expressed regret for his decision, admitting he had missed out on "a great opportunity".Before his win for The Hateful Eight, Morricone received Oscar nominations for Days of Heaven, The Mission, The Untouchables, Bugsy and Malena.His death was marked by Italian health minister Roberto Speranza, Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Monday, fellow composer Hans Zimmer said Morricone was "one of a kind" and "an icon". The composer says news of Ennio Morricone's … He was renowned for composing film scores … "But I said, 'No thank you, I prefer to live in Rome. "I was offered a free villa in Hollywood," he said. "They are only a relatively small percentage of the music I've written. © 2020 BBC. Ennio Morricone: Hans Zimmer pays tribute Film score composer Hans Zimmer says he was shocked by the death of Ennio Morricone. Obituary: Ennio Morricone, the composer who changed the sound of cinema Ennio Morricone cancels Rome concerts over back problems Ennio Morricone denies criticising Quentin Tarantino Ennio Morricone: 'I regret saying no to Clint Eastwood' Italian film composer Ennio Morricone dies aged 91 - bbc.com Known for putting the music to "spaghetti" Westerns that made Clint Eastwood a star, Morricone scored over 500 films in seven decades. "In Once Upon a Time in America, he used period jazz phrases in his score to set the right historical context.During his expansive career, the composer received Oscar nominations for Days of Heaven, The Mission, The Untouchables, Bugsy and Malena.His score for The Mission was described as so moving that rather than complementing the film, it overwhelmed it.He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2007 and went on to win an Oscar for best original score in 2016 for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.It was Morricone's first Western score for more than three decades.For his 75th birthday in 2003, a concert of film music at London's Royal Albert Hall saw musicians conducted by Morricone playing music from a selection of his compelling scores.His death was marked by Italian health minister Roberto Speranza, who tweeted: "Adieu maestro, and thank you for the emotions you gave us."

Ennio Morricone: Hans Zimmer pays tribute - BBC News The composer says news of Ennio Morricone's death at the age of 91 has shocked him. These are external links and will open in a new windowEnnio Morricone, the Italian composer whose credits include the "spaghetti" Westerns that made Clint Eastwood a star, has died in Rome aged 91.According to Italian news agency Ansa, he died in hospital having fractured his femur in a fall some days ago.The prolific composer also wrote music for Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables and Cinema Paradiso.Having received an honorary Oscar in 2007, he went on to win one in 2016 for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.Morricone, who was simply known as "Maestro" in his home town of Rome, scored more than 500 films over seven decades.