Biography
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.
Filmography
all 203
Movies 199
TV Shows 4
self 2
A Second Childhood (2010)
Il figlio più piccolo (2010)
Giovanna's Father (2008)
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1 (2008)
The Hideout (2007)
Linee d'ombra (2007)
A Dinner for Them to Meet (2007)
The Second Wedding Night (2005)
Ma quando arrivano le ragazze? (2005)
Christmas Rematch (2004)
The Godfathers of Mondo (2003)
In the Jungle: The Making Of Cannibal Holocaust (2003)
Incantato (2003)
Knights of the Quest (2001)
Midsummer Night Dance (1999)
Grandes ocasiones (1998)
The Best Man (1997)
P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995)
The Voyeur (1994)
Magnificat (1993)
L'angelo con la pistola (1992)
Brothers and Sisters (1992)
Paprika (1991)
Killer Crocodile 2 (1990)
Una fredda mattina di maggio (1990)
A Season of Giants (1990)
In The Rose Garden (1990)
The Dark Sun (1990)
Killer Crocodile (1989)
Via Panisperna Boys (1989)
Massacre Play (1989)
The Story of Boys and Girls (1989)
The Last Minute (1987)
Brothers in Blood (1987)
Love & Passion (1987)
The Inquiry (1986)
Christmas Present (1986)
Una Domenica si (1986)
The Corruption (1986)
Miranda (1985)
Graduation Party (1985)
Christopher Columbus (1985)
Impiegati (1985)
Noi tre (1984)
Uno scandalo perbene (1984)
Tuareg: Desert Warrior (1984)
The Octopus (1984)
Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984)
A School Trip (1983)
Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (1983)
A Hole in the Windshield (1983)
1919, Chronicle of Dawn (1983)
Zeder (1983)
Mafalda: The Movie (1982)
Valentina (1982)
The Girl from Trieste (1982)
Holy Cow (1982)
I camionisti (1982)
Più bello di così si muore (1982)
Fear in the City (1981)
Nobody's Perfect (1981)
Honey (1981)
Ghost of Love (1981)
Help Me Dream (1981)
Madhouse (1981)
House on the Edge of the Park (1980)
The Warning (1980)
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
The Return of Casanova (1980)
Fangio: Una vita a 300 all'ora (1980)
Il corpo della ragassa (1979)
Mimi (1979)
Gegè Bellavita (1979)
Atrocious Tales of Love and Death (1979)
The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
The Burning Years (1979)
Tigers in Lipstick (1979)
From Hell to Victory (1979)
First Love (1978)
Brutes and Savages (1978)
Le braghe del padrone (1978)
Rings of Fear (1978)
Cyclone (1978)
The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)
Double Murder (1977)
I Am Afraid (1977)
Sahara Cross (1977)
Casanova & Co. (1977)
Death Steps in the Dark (1977)
Mimì Bluette... Flower of My Garden (1976)
Submission (1976)
Maria - Nur die Nacht war ihr Zeuge (1976)
Holiday Hookers (1976)
Blonde in Black Leather (1975)
Ritratto di Donna Velata (1975)
Paolo Barca, maestro elementare, praticamente nudista (1975)
Mondo Candido (1975)
How to Kill a Judge (1975)
Vieni, vieni amore mio (1975)
There Is No 13 (1974)
To Love Ophelia (1974)
Erotomania (1974)
New Guinea: Island of Cannibals (1974)
The Amazons (1973)
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony (1973)
Teresa the Thief (1973)
La coppia (1973)
One Way (1973)
The African Deal (1973)
Counselor at Crime (1973)
Hospitals: The White Mafia (1973)
No, the Case Is Happily Resolved (1973)
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes (1973)
Mafia Junction (1973)
Dear Parents (1973)
One Russian Summer (1973)
A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972)
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
Girolimoni, the Monster of Rome (1972)
Jus primae noctis (1972)
The Dead Are Alive (1972)
Shadows Unseen (1972)
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972)
The Valachi Papers (1972)
Where the Bullets Fly (1972)
Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971)
Secret Fantasy (1971)
Do Not Commit Adultery (1971)
Web of the Spider (1971)
The Hunting Party (1971)
Confessions of a Police Captain (1971)
The Statue (1971)
Say Hello to Yesterday (1971)
The Lovemakers (1970)
Madron (1970)
The McKenzie Break (1970)
Invasion (1970)
A Girl Called Jules (1970)
Disperatamente l'estate scorsa (1970)
The Unholy Four (1970)
The Dove Must Not Fly (1970)
Un caso di coscienza (1970)
Andrea Doria -74 (1970)
With What Love, With What Love (1970)
Night of the Serpent (1969)
Viva Cangaceiro (1969)
The Ravine (1969)
So Sweet... So Perverse (1969)
One on Top of the Other (1969)
Salt in the Wound (1969)
La donna a una dimensione (1969)
Bootleggers (1969)
The Fight for Rome II - The Betrayal (1969)
The Fight for Rome (1968)
Dead Men Don't Count (1968)
Emma Hamilton (1968)
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
The Girl Who Couldn't Say No (1968)
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968)
Anzio (1968)
Beyond the Law (1968)
The Violent Four (1968)
Sardinia Kidnapped (1968)
The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)
Day of Anger (1967)
On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who... (1967)
Woman Times Seven (1967)
Tiffany Memorandum (1967)
Soldier's Girl (1967)
Kill and Pray (1967)
Non faccio la guerra, faccio l'amore (1966)
The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966)
Lightning Bolt (1966)
Africa Addio (1966)
Cifrato speciale (1966)
Spy in Your Eye (1965)
Con rispetto parlando (1965)
Red Dragon (1965)
The Glory Guys (1965)
The Devil Also Cries (1965)
Freispruch für Old Shatterhand (1965)
The Car That Became a Star (1965)
The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
Hour of Death (1964)
The 7th Dawn (1964)
Le ore nude (1964)
Ride and Kill (1964)
Old Shatterhand (1964)
Castle of Blood (1964)
The Pitiless Three (1964)
Ecco (1963)
Horror Castle (1963)
The Fall of Rome (1963)
Women of the World (1963)
Mediterranean Holiday (1962)
Il Sorpasso (1962)
Mondo Cane (1962)
Ursus in the Valley of the Lions (1961)
Very Important Person (1961)
Music of Always (1958)
Terrore sulla città (1957)
Le vacanze del Sor Clemente (1955)
Una casa a Roma
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForSound
GenderMale
Birthday1926-03-25
Deathday2014-01-23 (87 years old)
Birth NameRiziero Ortolani
Birth PlacePesaro, Italy
RelationshipsKatyna Ranieri (1964-08-31 - 2014-01-23)
CitizenshipsItaly, Kingdom of Italy
ResidencesPesaro, Italy, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Italy
Also Known AsRiziero Ortolani, Roger Higgins, Ritz Ortolani
AwardsDavid di Donatello for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
- Riz Ortolani
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