Ennio Morricone (born November 10, 1928 - July 6, 2020) was an award-winning Italian composer. He composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and television productions. Morricone wrote the characteristic soundtracks of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). His more recent compositions include the scores for The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Cinema Paradiso (1988), Lolita (1997), Malèna (2000) and Mission to Mars (2000). He had a surge in popularity with pieces of his music appearing in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2004) and Death Proof (2007).
Morricone won five Anthony Asquith Awards for Film Music by BAFTA in 1979-1992. He was nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score in 1979–2001, winning none of them. Morricone received the Honorary Academy Award in 2007 "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He was the second composer to receive the Honorary Academy Award.
Morricone died on July 6, 2020 due to injuries he sustained in a fall.
Metal Gear series[]
Morricone originally co-wrote the song "Here's to You" (with Joan Baez) for the film Sacco e Vanzetti. Morricone won the Nastro d'Argento trophy for his composition. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Harry Gregson-Williams re-recorded the song with vocals sung by Lisbeth Scott.
Morricone and Baez's original arrangement of the song was also used in the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, where it is played on the tape player belonging to Chico. Skull Face when torturing Paz Ortega Andrade, played the music. In addition, according to Skull Face, this was Paz's favorite song. This song is also played during the credits of the main game.