Biography
Riz Ortolani (25 March 1926 – 23 January 2014) was an Italian composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores. He wrote the music for the 1962 film Mondo Cane and scored more than 200 films and television programmes between 1955 and 2014.
Ortolani worked extensively in the Italian mondo, giallo and spaghetti western genres. Among his credits are Il Sorpasso (1962), Day of Anger (1967), Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), House on the Edge of the Park (1980) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980). He also scored several English-language films, including The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968). His composition "More" from Mondo Cane won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
In the early 1950s Ortolani founded and played in a jazz band. He studied at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" in Pesaro and worked with the RAI orchestra. Ortolani married singer Katyna Ranieri in 1956.
