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Oscar-Winning Italian Composer Ennio Morricone, 91, Dies


Composer Ennio Morricone arrives for the screening of the movie "The Hateful Eight," in Rome, Jan. 28, 2016.
Composer Ennio Morricone arrives for the screening of the movie "The Hateful Eight," in Rome, Jan. 28, 2016.

Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone died in a Roman clinic Monday morning, where he was being treated for a fractured femur due to a fall. He was 91 years old.

A great musician, composer and conductor, Morricone was well-known as the author of the most famous and beautiful soundtracks of Italian and world cinema.

He composed the music for more than 400 films, including now-classic Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" in 1966 and Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" for which he won an Oscar in 2016.

Other famous movie scores include “A Fistful of Dollars”, “Mission”, and “Once Upon a Time in America.”

Morricone died "at dawn on July 6 in Rome with the comfort of faith," a note from the family read and conveyed to the public by their friend and lawyer Giorgio Assumma, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

Morricone’s funeral will be private "in respect of the feeling of humility that has always inspired the acts of his existence," Assumma said, adding that the master "had preserved to the last full lucidity and great dignity."

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