Riz Ortolani

Early Life

Riziero "Riz" Ortolani was born on March 25, 1926, in Pesaro, Italy, as the youngest of six children. His father, a postal worker, introduced him to music by gifting him a violin at the tender age of four. After a car accident led to an elbow injury, he switched to the flute. Ortolani honed his musical skills at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" in Pesaro before moving to Rome in 1948, where he began working with the RAI orchestra. His early career also included serving in the Italian Air Force orchestra and forming a jazz ensemble, which eventually led him to the United States as a jazz musician in Hollywood.

Career

Ortolani's career took off in the early 1950s when he founded a prominent Italian jazz band. His breakthrough came with the 1962 pseudo-documentary "Mondo Cane," for which he composed the main title song "More," earning him a Grammy and an Oscar nomination. This success opened doors for him to score films in both England and the United States, including notable works like "The Yellow Rolls-Royce" (1964) and "The Spy with a Cold Nose" (1966). Over his prolific career, Ortolani scored over 200 films, spanning various genres such as Spaghetti Westerns, giallos, and exploitation films. His notable works include "Africa Addio" (1966), "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980), and the acclaimed series "La piovra" (1984). He continued to work with Italian director Pupi Avati in his later years.

Personal Life

In 1956, Ortolani married Katyna Ranieri, and together they had a daughter named Rizia. His contributions to film music were recognized with several prestigious awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition. Ortolani's legacy as a composer and orchestrator remains influential in the world of film music, with a career that spanned nearly six decades until his passing in 2014.