Ennio Morricone, OMRI (Italian orders of merit#Order of Merit of the Republic (Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana)) (born November 10, 1928), is an Italian (List of Italian composers) composer and conductor (Conducting). He is considered as one of the most influential and most prolific film composers of his era. Morricone has composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and TV productions. He is well-known for his long-term collaborations with international acclaimed directors such as Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, and Giuseppe Tornatore.

He wrote the characteristic film scores of Leones 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). In the 80s, Morricone composed the scores for John Carpenters horror movie The Thing (The Thing (film)) (1982), Leones Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Roland Joff�s The Mission (The Mission (1986 film)) (1986), Brian De Palmas The Untouchables (The Untouchables (1987 film)) (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatores Cinema Paradiso (1988). His more recent compositions include the scores for Oliver Stones U Turn (1997), Tornatores The Legend of 1900 (1998) and Mal�na (2000), Mission to Mars (2000) by Brian De Palma, Fateless (Fateless (film)) (2005), and Baaria - La porta del vento (2009).

Morricone has won two Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and five Anthony Asquith Awards for Film Music (BAFTA Award for Best Film Music) by BAFTA in 1979-1992. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score in 1979-2001. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 2007 "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music"., only the second composer to be so honored since the awards introduction in 1928.