Riz Ortolani
Known For: Sound
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: March 25, 1926
Day of Death: January 23, 2014 (88 years old)
Place of Birth: Pesaro, Marche, Italy
Riziero "Riz" Ortolani (25 March 1926 – 23 January 2014) was an Italian film composer. Ortolani scored over 300 films working mostly within the Italian genres of Mondo, Giallo, and the Spaghetti Western. Ortolani also scored many Hollywood films and has had some of his compositions reused in films like Drive and Django Unchained. Ortolani's most famous composition is More, which he wrote for the infamous film Mondo Cane. It won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 36th Academy Awards. The song was later covered by Frank Sinatra, Kai Winding, Andy Williams, Roy Orbison, and others. Ortolani was born on 25 March 1926 in Pesaro, Italy. He was the youngest of six children. Ortolani's father, a postal worker, gave his son a violin at age 4. Ortolani later switched to flute after injuring his elbow in a car accident. He studied at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" in his hometown of Pesaro before moving to Rome in 1948 and finding work with the RAI orchestra. Though the chronology is unclear, he also likely served as a musician in the Italian Air Force orchestra, formed a Jazz ensemble, and came to the United States as a Jazz musician in Hollywood, all before scoring his first film. Ortolani married Katyna Ranieri in 1956. In the early 1950s, Ortolani was founder and member of a well-known Italian jazz band. One of his early film scores was for Paolo Cavara and Gualtiero Jacopetti's 1962 pseudo-documentary Mondo Cane, whose main title-song More earned him a Grammy and was also nominated for an Oscar as Best Song. The success of the soundtrack of Mondo Cane led Ortolani to score films in England and the United States such as The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968) and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968). He also scored the 1972 film The Valachi Papers, directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson. Ortolani scored all or parts of over 200 films, including German westerns like Old Shatterhand (1964) and a long series of Italian giallos, Spaghetti Westerns, Eurospy films, Exploitation films and mondo films. These include Il Sorpasso (1962), Castle of Blood (1964), Africa Addio (1966), Day of Anger (1967), Anzio (1968), The McKenzie Break (1970), The Hunting Party (1971), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972), Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972), The Fifth Musketeer (1979), From Hell to Victory (1979), the controversial Ruggero Deodato films Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and The House on the Edge of the Park (1980), and the first series of La piovra (1984). In later years he scored many films for Italian director Pupi Avati. His music was used on soundtracks for Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (1999), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Drive (2011) and Django Unchained (2012). In 2013, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy. Ortolani died on 23 January 2014 in Rome, aged 87. Source: Article "Riz Ortolani" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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The Fifth Musketeer
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Tigers in Lipstick
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The Burning Years
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Il corpo della ragassa
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Mimi
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Gegè Bellavita
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Atrocious Tales of Love and Death
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From Hell to Victory
1978
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1973
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Mafia Junction
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Teresa the Thief
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No, the Case Is Happily Resolved
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Dear Parents
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One Russian Summer
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Mean Frank and Crazy Tony
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Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes
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One Way
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The African Deal
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War Goddess
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Hospitals: The White Mafia
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Counselor at Crime
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The Heroes
1972
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Where the Bullets Fly
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Don't Torture a Duckling
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Jus primae noctis
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A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
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Shadows Unseen
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The Dead Are Alive
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Girolimoni, the Monster of Rome
Conductor
Don't Torture a Duckling
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The Valachi Papers
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Seven Blood-Stained Orchids
Conductor
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids
1971
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Secret Fantasy
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Confessions of a Police Captain
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The Hunting Party
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Say Hello to Yesterday
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Goodbye Uncle Tom
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Web of the Spider
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Do Not Commit Adultery
Conductor
The Hunting Party
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The Statue
1970
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The Dove Must Not Fly
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Andrea Doria -74
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With What Love, With What Love
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Un caso di coscienza
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A Girl Called Jules
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Madron
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The McKenzie Break
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The Lovemakers
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The Unholy Four
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Disperatamente l'estate scorsa
1969
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Salt in the Wound
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Night of the Serpent
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The Ravine
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So Sweet... So Perverse
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Bootleggers
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One on Top of the Other
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Viva Cangaceiro
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The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
1968
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Beyond the Law
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The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
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The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
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Emma Hamilton
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The Violent Four
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The Biggest Bundle of Them All
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The Fight for Rome
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Sardinia Kidnapped
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Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
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Anzio
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The Girl Who Couldn't Say No
