“Forgotten Hollywood”- Oscar Winner Born Before First Show

Posted on February 29, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   Ennio Morricone was an Academy Award winner this year for Best Music Score of the film, The Hateful Eight. The composer-legend was hired by Quentin Tarantino to score his latest Western epic; the title of the film a spoof of The Magnificent Seven. The amazing thing about Morricone: He was born BEFORE the very first Oscar ceremony in 1929.

Morricone   Oscar booklet

                                         ENNIO MORRICONE

   Born in November, 1928 in Rome, Ennio’s first films were undistinguished. But, his arrangement of an American folk song intrigued director, and his former schoolmate, Sergio Leone. They subsequently collaborated to establish the iconic soundtrack of the Spaghetti Western genre. The composer memorably scored A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and notably, The Good the Bad and the Ugly. All three flicks starred Clint Eastwood.

   Throughout his storied career, he prospered in Hollywood, composing for prolific American directors such as Don Siegel, John Carpenter, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, and Oliver Stone. His background compositions can be found in the remake of The Thing, Exorcist II: The Heretic, La Cage aux Folles, Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables, Bugsy, WolfCinema Paradiso, In the Line of Fire, Casualties of War, and Bulworth.

   Tarantino had wanted to work with Morricone for years. His chance came when the director created a homage to the Spaghetti Western. Ennio’s nomination for The Hateful Eight marks him as the second oldest nominee in Academy history, behind Gloria Stuart. His win on Sunday marked a first competitive Oscar; and at the age of 87, he became the oldest recipient to take home the statuette. It was his sixth nomination.

   In 2007, the Board of Governors gave the composer a Lifetime Achievement Award, figuring Morricone’s career was long over. Once again, they were wrong. I only mention it because they pulled this same stunt on Paul Newman (The Color of Money) and Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond), one year before each won their very first competitive Oscar.

   Congratulations to the maestro!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, February 29th, 2016 at 12:40 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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