Ennio Morricone: Godfather of Western cinema music

The Academy awarded Italian composer Ennio Morricone who is famous for his iconic film scores and themes died last Monday, July 6.

Aged 91, Morricone died at a Rome hospital after falling and breaking his leg.

An astonishing achievement, this great composer over his 50 year career has worked with top filmmakers from around the world and written around 500 scores.

The composer behind the instantly recognizable melodies from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time in the West," Morricone won an Academy Award for his soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in 2016. His Academy achievement was following five previous nominations and an Honorary Award in 2007 which recognized his lifetime's achievement. Though Morricone’s name synonyms with his music for Westerns, his proved his variety and versatility composing soundtracks for classics like "The Mission" and "Cinema Paradiso.".

He won and nominated for a number of BAFTA awards and Golden Globes and he was a recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Morricone who continues to speak in Italian and did not bother to speak in English and did not move to Hollywood but remained in Rome, worked with leading filmmakers world over including Sergio Leone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski, Bar ry Levinson, Terrence Malick, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino.