Ennio Morricone Artistfacts

November 10, 1928 – July 6, 2020
Ennio Morricone was a prolific composer of some of cinema's most iconic soundtracks. He wrote over 500 scores for film and TV, as well as more than 100 classical works. His scores for Sergio Leone's cycle of spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood continue to define that genre.
He was born in Rome, the son of Libera Ridolfi and Mario Morricone, a freelance trumpet player.
It was a gift of a trumpet from his father that pushed the young Ennio into the world of music.
The young Morricone made a formative trip to The International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. The summer school was a prestigious event for avant-garde and electronic music in the 1950s and 1960s, where the experimental musicians included John Cage.
Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone attended the same primary school in Rome during their childhood. Their paths diverged after school, and they reportedly lost contact for many years. It wasn't until Leone, already a film director, hired Morricone to compose the music for A Fistful of Dollars in 1964 that their childhood connection resurfaced and blossomed into a legendary creative partnership.
Morricone's scores for films like A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West were revolutionary. He used unconventional instruments like harmonicas, bells, and even gunshots, creating a soundscape that was both haunting and thrilling.
The Italian maestro only received one competitive Oscar: Morricone's score for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight won him an Academy Award in 2016 in the Best Original Score category. At the age of 87, he became the oldest person at the time to win a competitive Oscar. Morricone also won an honorary Academy Award in 2007.
Alongside music, Morricone developed a strong interest in chess after being introduced to the game at age 11. He wasn't just a casual player; Morricone became quite skilled and played chess with many big names, including GMs Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Judit Polgar, and Boris Spassky. He once held the latter to a draw.

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