Friday 24 January 2014

Italian Composer Riz Ortalani dies, aged 87.

Was very sad to hear that Italian movie soundtrack composer Riz Ortalani, of "Cannibal Holocaust" and more recently "Django Unchained" fame passed away yesterday (23/01/14).
 
The following obituary was posted over at Dangerous Minds.
 
Italian film composer Riziero “Riz” Ortolani died in Rome at the age of 87. Sadly, Ortolani—who worked with directors like Vittorio De Sica, Dino Risi, Damiano Damiani, Lucio Fulchi, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Pupi Avati—would have celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary of marriage to his wife Katyna in just a few days time.
 
Ortolani’s music first gained worldwide exposure with his score for the infamous Mondo Cane. The film’s title theme “More” won him a Grammy and an Oscar nomination. It’s been covered by Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, Judy Garland, Andy WIlliams, Herb Alpert and many others.
 
In a career that spanned decades, Ortolani wrote the music for around three hundred bloody giallo films, “Mondo” documentaries, zombie flicks, exploitation films and spaghetti westerns. In recent years his work has been heard in the films of Quentin Tarantino and in Drive.
 
RIP Riz, cult movie fans the world over will miss you.
 
 

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