Ennio Morricone (born November 10, 1928) is an Italian composer especially noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores of more than 500 films and TV series. Although only 30 of these are for Western films, it is for this work which he is best known.

Morricone's sparse style of composition for the genre is particularly exemplified by the soundtracks of the classic spaghetti westerns The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968). In more recent years, his haunting scores for The Mission (Roland Joffé, 1986), The Untouchables (Brian DePalma, 1987), Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988), and Lolita (Adrian Lyne, 1997) have demonstrated his giftedness and the power of his work.

He is also credited as Dan Savio. He will receive the Honorary Academy Award in 2007, only the second film composer to be so honored.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennio_morricone