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Italian Composer to Receive Honorary Oscar

The legendary composer, Ennio Morricone, made famous by his works in Spaghetti Westerns, such as, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Fist Full of Dollars, will receive an honorary Oscar in the Academy Award ceremony that will take place in February.

Morricone, who is 78-year-old, composed over 300 soundtracks for movies thought his 45-year-long career, but had never received an Academy Award. He was nominated five times, though, for his work in Day`s in Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991) and Malena (2000). "I certainly did not expect anything of the sort, by now with great tranquility and peace of mind I had given up on this," he told an Italian reporter. "This is a great, very important recognition, which I deem of great value."

The academy said that it was impressed not only by the sheer volume of soundtracks but by the fact that so many of the movies he took part in have become extremely loved classics. The academy wrote in its announcement that Morricone has made "magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." Other timeless classics Morricone contributed his soundtracks to, were Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and Lolita (1997). Last year the academy awarded an honorary prize to Robert Altman, who has passed away last month. The rock band Metallica have been using Morricone`s Ecstasy of Gold as an into to their concerts since 1984, while the band Mr. Bungle have covert several of his pieces in live concert.