by Staff Writer 07-07-2020 | 12:08 PM
(News 1st): Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer whose credits include the "Spaghetti" Westerns that made Clint Eastwood a star, has died in Rome aged 91.
According to foreign media, he died in hospital having fractured his femur in a fall a few days ago.
The prolific composer also wrote music for "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Untouchables" and "Cinema Paradiso."
Having received an honorary Oscar in 2007, he went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Original Score in 2016 for Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight."
Morricone, who was simply known as "Maestro" in his home town of Rome, scored more than 500 films over seven decades.
Yet he remains best known for the haunting melodies he wrote for the trilogy of 1960s westerns Sergio Leone made with the then little-known Eastwood.
Expressing his condolences, fellow composer Hans Zimmer said Morricone was "one of a kind" and "an icon".
"His music was always outstanding and done with great emotional fortitude and great intellectual thought," Zimmer continued.