Oscar win at 87 may make Ennio Morricone the oldest winner ever
''The Hateful Eight” composer Ennio Morricone accepts the Oscar for original score Sunday from Pharrell Williams, center, and Quincy Jones at the 88th Academy Awards.
Composer Ennio Morricone, 87, has become one of the oldest — if not the oldest — person to win a competitive Academy Award with his Oscar on Sunday for “The Hateful Eight.”
The academy said it keeps age-related data only for the acting and directing categories and no winners in those races have exceeded 82.
“We do not have this kind of data for the other competitive categories. That being said, we are not aware of a competitive award winner older than 87,” an academy spokeswoman said.
Playwright George Bernard Shaw was 82 when he shared a screenplay Oscar for the 1938 film adaptation of his drama “Pygmalion.”
Morricone’s win for “The Hateful Eight” marks his first competitive Oscar following five prior nominations for “Days of Heaven,” “The Mission,” “The Untouchables,” “Bugsy” and “Malèna.”
The composer received an honorary Oscar nine years ago in recognition of his career work that includes several classic spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone.
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