Academy Award-winning maestro Ennio Morricone has sadly passed away at the age of 91.

His death, at a hospital, was confirmed by his lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, who said that Mr. Morricone was admitted there last week after falling and fracturing a femur. Mr. Assumma also distributed a statement that Mr. Morricone had written himself, titled, “I, Ennio Morricone, am dead.”



The Italian composer was a unique talent, composing melodic accompaniments to comedies, thrillers and historical dramas by Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Terrence Malick, Roland Joffé, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Mike Nichols, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino and other filmmakers.

He scored many popular films of the past 40 years such as Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Édouard Molinaro’s La Cage aux Folles (1978), Mr. Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), Mr. De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987), Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1988), and Mr. Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015) which won him an Oscar and Golden Globe.

Morricone's work in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly  has become one of the most iconic scores in film history.



The maestro also never learned to speak English, never left Rome to compose, and for years refused to fly anywhere, though he eventually flew all over the world to conduct orchestras, sometimes performing his own compositions. While he worked extensively for Hollywood films, he did not visit the United States until 2007, when, at 78, he made a monthlong tour, punctuated by festivals of his films. 

Here's his winning speech when he attended the 88th Academy Awards where he won his first competitive Oscar.



The InCinemas team would like to virtually send their thoughts and prayers to Maestro Morricone's family and friends for their loss.