Piero Piccioni, 82; Composer of Scores for Italian Films

Piero Piccioni, 82, Italian composer who wrote music for more than 100 motion pictures including Dino Risi’s 1957 comedy “Poor But Handsome,” died Friday in his Rome apartment of unspecified causes.

Born in Turin, Piccioni first performed as a pianist in the late 1930s, worked in a jazz orchestra in the 1940s and then began composing music for films. One of his most famous works was for Francesco Rosi’s 1972 “The Mattei Affair.”

He worked with Mauro Bolognini in “Il Bell’Antonio” (1960) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale; with Roberto Rossellini in “Anima Nera” (1962); with Jean-Luc Godard in “Contempt” (1963); and with Luchino Visconti in “The Stranger” (1967), based on Albert Camus’ novel.

Piccioni also worked with Lina Wertmuller on “All Screwed Up” (1973) and “Swept Away” (1974), and on dozens of films by Italian actor and director Alberto Sordi including “Help Me My Love” (1969), “Stardust” (1973) and “While There’s War There’s Hope” (1974).