‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ composer Ennio Morricone dies at 91

Legendary Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, whose most famous works included the scores for Italian “spaghetti Westerns” such as “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” died Monday at 91.

Morricone, who composed music for more than 500 movies, died in Rome from complications from a fall the previous week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Morricone began a creative partnership with director Sergio Leone in the 1960s, scoring “A Fistful of Dollars” and all of the director’s subsequent films, including “The Good, the Bad & The Ugly,” “For A Few Dollars More,” “Duck, You Sucker,” “Once Upon a Time in the West” and Leone’s final film, the 1984 gangster epic “Once Upon A Time in America.”

In addition to his work with Leone, Morricone wrote the distinctive scores for “The Untouchables,” “Bugsy,” “The Mission,” “The Thing” and “Cinema Paradiso.”

Morricone’s outspoken fans included Quentin Tarantino, who reused Morricone’s scores from earlier movies in several of his own films before the two collaborated for the first and only time for 2015’s “The Hateful Eight,” for which Morricone won his only Academy Award.

Tributes rolled in Monday with the news of Morricone’s death, from admirers ranging from “Hot Fuzz” director Edgar Wright, who said the composer “could make an average movie into a must see, a good movie into art, and a great movie into legend,” to automaker Lamborghini, which called him “a true Italian genius.”

Where to even begin with iconic composer Ennio Morricone? He could make an average movie into a must see, a good movie into art, and a great movie into legend. He hasn’t been off my stereo my entire life. What a legacy of work he leaves behind. RIP. https://t.co/qZX6qE10ke

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) July 6, 2020

We lost a true Italian genius. The kind of genius that can bring sound to dreams, stories and worlds, and make them unique. Goodbye Maestro @MEnnioMorricone.#EnnioMorricone pic.twitter.com/l0OgexSQCp

— Lamborghini (@Lamborghini) July 6, 2020