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Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI (Italian: [ˈɛnnjo morriˈkoːne]; born 10 November 1928) is an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and formertrumpet player, born in Rome. He composes a wide range of music styles, making him one of the most versatile, experimental and influential composers of all time, working in any medium.^[1] Over the past seven decades, Morricone has composed over 500 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. His filmography includes over 70 award-winning films, including all Sergio Leone films since the Dollars Trilogy (such as Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America), all Giuseppe Tornatorefilms (since Cinema Paradiso), The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, in particular the comedy trilogy La Cage aux Folles I, II, III and Le Professionnel, The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, Bugsy, In the Line of Fire, Disclosure, Mission to Mars, Ripley's Game, The Best Offer, and The Hateful Eight.^[2]

After having played trumpet in jazz bands in the 1950s, he became a studio arranger for RCA and started ghost writing for film and theatre. Throughout his career, he composed hundreds of songs for artists such as Paul Anka, Mina,Zucchero and Andrea Bocelli. From 1960 to 1975, Morricone gained international fame by composing the music to westerns. His score to 1966'sThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered as one of the most influential soundtracks in history^[3] and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[4] The album reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart.^[5] With an estimated 10 million copies sold, Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best-selling instrumental scores worldwide.^[6] He also scored seven westerns for Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari's Ringo duology and Sergio Sollima's The Big Gundown and Face to Face. Morricone worked extensively for other film genres with directors such as Mauro Bolognini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé and Henri Verneuil. The highly acclaimed soundtrack for The Mission (1986)^[7] was certified gold by RIAA. His album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone stayed 105 weeks on the Billboard Top Classical Albums and peaked in 2004 at No.3.^[8]

Morricone's best-known compositions include "The Ecstasy of Gold", "Man with a Harmonica", "Here's to You", the UK #2 single "Chi Mai", "Nella Fantasia" and "E Più Ti Penso". He functioned during the period 1966-1980 as a main member of Il Gruppo, one of the first experimental composers collectives. In 1969, he co-founded Forum Music Village, a prestigious recording studio. From the 1970s, Morricone excelled in Hollywood, composing for prolific American directors such as Don Siegel, John Carpenter,Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino. In 1977, he composed the official theme for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He continued to compose music for European productions, such as Marco Polo, La Piovra,Nostromo, Fateless, Karol and En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait. Morricone's music has been reused in television series, including The Simpsons and The Sopranos, and in many films, including Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained.

As of 2013, Ennio Morricone has sold over 70 million records worldwide. In 1971, he received a "Targa d'Oro" for the worldwide sales of 22 million.^[9] In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He has been nominated for a further sixOscars. In 2016, Morricone received an Academy Award for his score for Quentin Tarantino's film The Hateful Eight (2015). His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, elevenNastro d'Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2010