Sound
Riz Ortolani
DE, IT, EN, ES cinema · 199 credits
Born
25 March 1926
Died
23 January 2014 (aged 87)
Birthplace
Pesaro, Marche, Italy
Also known as Riziero Ortolani · Roger Higgins · Ritz Ortolani
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.
Known for
Filmography
A Second Childhood
Original Music Composer
The Hideout
Original Music Composer
A Dinner for Them to Meet
Original Music Composer
Ma quando arrivano le ragazze?
Music, Original Music Composer
The Second Wedding Night
Original Music Composer
In the Jungle - The Making Of Cannibal Holocaust
as Himself, Original Music Composer
Incantato
Original Music Composer
Knights of the Quest
Music, Original Music Composer
Midsummer Night Dance
Original Music Composer
The Voyeur
Original Music Composer
Magnificat
Original Music Composer
The Angel with the Gun
Original Music Composer
Brothers and Sisters
Original Music Composer
Paprika
Original Music Composer
Killer Crocodile 2
Original Music Composer
A Season of Giants
Original Music Composer
In The Rose Garden
Original Music Composer
The Dark Sun
Original Music Composer
Una fredda mattina di maggio
Original Music Composer
Killer Crocodile
Original Music Composer
The Story of Boys and Girls
Original Music Composer
Massacre Play
Original Music Composer
Via Panisperna Boys
Music, Original Music Composer
Sposi
Original Music Composer
The Last Minute
Original Music Composer
Love & Passion
Original Music Composer
The Inquiry
Original Music Composer
Christmas Present
Original Music Composer
Una domenica sì
Original Music Composer
Impiegati
Original Music Composer
Graduation Party
Original Music Composer
Miranda
Original Music Composer
Tuareg: Desert Warrior
Original Music Composer, Conductor
The Three of Us
Original Music Composer
Revenge of the Dead
Original Music Composer
A School Trip
Original Music Composer
Holy Cow
Original Music Composer
Più bello di così si muore
Original Music Composer
Valentina
Original Music Composer
I camionisti
Original Music Composer
Madhouse
Original Music Composer
Ghost of Love
Original Music Composer
Help Me Dream
Original Music Composer
Nobody's Perfect
Original Music Composer
Honey
Original Music Composer
Fear in the City
Original Music Composer
Cannibal Holocaust
Original Music Composer
House on the Edge of the Park
Original Music Composer
Maria - Nur die Nacht war Zeuge
Original Music Composer
The Warning
Original Music Composer
Fangio: Una vita a 300 all'ora
Original Music Composer
The Return of Casanova
Original Music Composer
Chocolate
Original Music Composer
The Fifth Musketeer
Original Music Composer
Tigers in Lipstick
Original Music Composer
The Burning Years
Original Music Composer
Il corpo della ragassa
Original Music Composer
Mimi
Original Music Composer
Gegè Bellavita
Original Music Composer
Atrocious Tales of Love and Death
Original Music Composer
From Hell to Victory
Original Music Composer
Brutes and Savages
Original Music Composer
Cyclone
Music
First Love
Original Music Composer
Rings of Fear
Original Music Composer
Death Steps in the Dark
Original Music Composer
Sahara Cross
Original Music Composer
Casanova & Co.
Original Music Composer
Double Murder
Conductor, Original Music Composer
I Am Afraid
Original Music Composer
The Pyjama Girl Case
Original Music Composer
Holiday Hookers
Original Music Composer
Submission
Original Music Composer
Mondo candido
Original Music Composer
How to Kill a Judge
Original Music Composer
Blonde in Black Leather
Original Music Composer
To Love Ophelia
Original Music Composer
Mafia Junction
Original Music Composer
Teresa the Thief
Original Music Composer
No, the Case Is Happily Resolved
Original Music Composer
Dear Parents
Original Music Composer
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony
Original Music Composer
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye
Original Music Composer
The African Deal
Original Music Composer
One Way
Original Music Composer
War Goddess
Original Music Composer
Hospitals: The White Mafia
Original Music Composer
The Counsellor
Original Music Composer
The Heroes
Original Music Composer
One Russian Summer
Original Music Composer
Where the Bullets Fly
Original Music Composer
Don't Torture a Duckling
Original Music Composer, Conductor
Jus primae noctis
Original Music Composer
The Dead Are Alive
Original Music Composer
Girolimoni, the Monster of Rome
Original Music Composer
The Valachi Papers
Original Music Composer
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids
Conductor, Original Music Composer
A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
Original Music Composer, Conductor
Secret Fantasy
Original Music Composer
Confessions of a Police Captain
Original Music Composer
The Hunting Party
Music, Conductor
Goodbye Uncle Tom
Original Music Composer
Web of the Spider
Original Music Composer
Do Not Commit Adultery
Original Music Composer
The Statue
Original Music Composer
The Dove Must Not Fly
Original Music Composer
Andrea Doria -74
Original Music Composer
With What Love, With How Much Love
Original Music Composer
Un caso di coscienza
Original Music Composer
Madron
Original Music Composer
The Lovemakers
Original Music Composer
The Unholy Four
Original Music Composer
The Adventures of Gerard
Original Music Composer, Conductor
Salt in the Wound
Original Music Composer
Night of the Serpent
Original Music Composer
The Ravine
Original Music Composer
One on Top of the Other
Original Music Composer
Viva Cangaceiro
Original Music Composer
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal
Original Music Composer
La coppia
Original Music Composer
Beyond the Law
Original Music Composer, Conductor
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Original Music Composer, Conductor
Emma Hamilton
Original Music Composer
The Violent Four
Original Music Composer
The Biggest Bundle of Them All
Original Music Composer
The Fight for Rome
Original Music Composer
Sardinia Kidnapped
Original Music Composer
The Girl Who Couldn't Say No
Original Music Composer
Anzio
Original Music Composer
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
Original Music Composer
Woman Times Seven
Conductor, Original Music Composer
Day of Anger
Original Music Composer
Kill and Pray
Original Music Composer
Tiffany Memorandum
Original Music Composer
Soldier's Girl
Original Music Composer
On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who...
Original Music Composer
Lightning Bolt
Original Music Composer
Africa Blood and Guts
Original Music Composer
The Spy with a Cold Nose
Original Music Composer
The Glory Guys
Original Music Composer
The Devil Also Cries
Original Music Composer
Red Dragon
Original Music Composer
Spy in Your Eye
Original Music Composer
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Conductor, Original Music Composer
Ride and Kill
Original Music Composer
Castle of Blood
Original Music Composer
The Pitiless Three
Original Music Composer
Le ore nude
Compositor
The Fall of Rome
Original Music Composer
Women of the World
Original Music Composer
Ecco
Original Music Composer
Horror Castle
Original Music Composer
Il Sorpasso
Original Music Composer
Mediterranean Holiday
Original Music Composer
Very Important Person
Original Music Composer
Ursus in the Valley of the Lions
Original Music Composer
Processo all'amore
Original Music Composer
