Ennio Morricone To Receive Honorary Oscar

at this year's Academy Awards, on Sunday, February 25.

Morricone received his first break when former classmate Sergio Leone asked him to score the spaghetti western "A Fistful of Dollars." His collaborations with Leone would go on to include the seminal scores for films like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time in America."

His Oscar nominations have come for "Days of Heaven," "The Mission," "The Untouchables," "Bugsy" and "Malena."

His score for The Mission is one of my favorites film scores.