Nino Rota Nino Rota

Born: 3 December 1911, Milan, Italy.
Died: 10 April 1979.

Biography:
Nino Rota – real name Nino Rinaldi – was born into a family of musicians. A prodigious talent, he studied at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, and had his first major piece, "L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista", performed in both Milan and Paris in 1923, when he was just 12. He undertook further studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, the University of Milan and the Bari Conservatory, and wrote a number of operas and ballets during the 1940s and 50s, including "Ariodante", "Torquemada", "I Due Timidi", "La notte di un Neurastenico" and "Aladino e la Lampada Magica". Rota began working in film as early as 1933, and was in constant employment in the Italian film industry, working extensively with directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Luchino Visconti Renato Castellani, and Mario Monicelli. However, his most lucrative collaboration was with the legendary Federico Fellini. Beginning in 1952 with "The White Sheik", Rota wrote music for sixteen of Fellini's masterpieces over 25 years, including "La Strada" (1954), "Le Notti di Cabiria" (1957), "La Dolce Vita" (1960), "81/2" (1963), "Satyricon" (1970), "Roma" (1972), "Amarcord" (1973) and "Casanova" (1976). Other notable films in Rota's history include "Il Gattopardo" (1963), "Romeo & Juliet" (1968), and the near-legendary "The Godfather" (1972), which should have won him an Oscar, but which was deemed ineligible due it re-using themes from his own score for "Fortunella" (1957). As if his collaborations with Fellini were not enough, this latter film finally gave him a great degree of North American fame, and his work was finally rewarded in 1975 when he was warded his long overdue Oscar for his work on "The Godfather Part II" with Francis Ford Coppola's composer father, Carmine. Sadly, Rota died before he could truly capitalize on his new American fame, suffering a coronary thrombosis at his home in Rome on 10 April 1979, aged 68.

Filmography:
The Godfather: Part III (1990), Ernesto (1979), Uragano (1979), Orchestra Rehearsal (1979), Ten to Survive (1979), Death on the Nile (1978), Caro Michele (1976), Casanova (1976), Ragazzo di Borgata (1976), Amarcord (1974), The Abdication (1974), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Love and Anarchy (1973), Sunset Sunrise (1973), The Godfather (1972), Roma (1972), The Clowns (1971), Waterloo (1970), Paranoia (1969), Satyricon (1969), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Romeo and Juliet (1968), Spirits of the Dead (1968), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand (1966), Gian Burrasca's Diary (1965), Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Kiss the Other Sheik (1965), 81/2 (1963), Il Gattopardo (1963), Il Maestro di Vigevano (1963), Mafioso (1962), The Reluctant Saint (1962), The Best of Enemies (1961), Italian Brigands (1961), Ghosts of Rome (1961), La Dolce Vita (1960), Lust for Evil (1960), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Under Ten Flags (1960), Un Ettaro Di Cielo (1959), La Grande Guerra (1959), La Diga Sol Pacifica (1958), Gli Italiani Sono Matti (1958), The Law Is the Law (1958), Fortunella (1957), Young Husbands (1957), Italia Piccola (1957), Il Medico e Lo Stregone (1957), The Most Wonderful Moment (1957), White Nights (1957), Le Notti di Cabiria (1957), City at Night (1956), The House of Intrigue (1956), War and Peace (1956), Accade Al Penitenziario (1955), Friends for Life (1955), La Bella di Roma (1955), Il Bidone (1955), Un Eroe Dei Nostri Tempi (1955), Appassionatamente (1954), Cento Anni D'Amore (1954), The Great Hope (1954), Mambo (1954), Musoduro (1954), La Nave Delle Donne Maledette (1954), Proibito (1954), La Strada (1954), Vergine Moderna (1954), Via Padova 46 (1954),The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships (1953), Good Folk's Sunday (1953), Public Enemy Number One (1953), Luxury Girls (1953), Riscatto (1953), Scampolo 53 (1953), Star of India (1953), The Young and the Passionate (1953), Angels of the District (1952), The Assassin (1952), Le Boulanger de Valorgue (1952), Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952), Jolanda la Figlia del Corsaro Nero (1952), Husband and Wife (1952), Noi Due Soli (1952), The Queen of Sheba (1952), Hell Raiders of the Deep (1952), Something Money Can't Buy (1952), The Stranger's Hand (1952), Anna (1951), Of Love and Bandits (1951), It's Him... Yes! Yes! (1951), Filumena Marturano (1951), Le Meravigliose Avventure di Guerrin Meschino (1951), Street Urchin (1951), The White Sheik (1951), Totò e i re di Roma (1951), Valley of Eagles (1951), Children of Chance (1950), Honeymoon Deferred (1950), Naples Millionaire (1950), Peppino e Violetta (1950), It's a Dog's Life (1950), His Last Twelve Hours (1950), The Hidden Room (1949), Come Scopersi l'America (1949), The Glass Mountain (1949), The Masked Pirate (1949), Her Favorite Husband (1949), Difficult Years (1948), Arrivederci, Papa! (1948), L'Eroe Della Strada (1948), Flight Into France (1948), Woman Trouble (1948), Proibito Rubare (1948), Without Piety (1948), Totò al Giro D'Italia (1948), Prelude to Madness (1947), Come Persi la Guerra (1947), Elena (1947), Flesh Will Surrender (1947), To Live in Peace (1947), È Primavera (1947), Albergo Luna, Camera 34 (1946), A Yank in Rome (1946), Professor My Son (1946), La Primula Bianca (1946), Roma, Città Libera (1946), Under the Sun of Rome (1946), Vanita (1946), His Young Wife (1945), La Donna Della Montagna (1943), The Arrow (1943), Zaza (1943), Il Birichino di Papà (1942), La Due Orfanelle (1942), Giorno di Nozze (1942), Treno Popolare (1933).

Highest Grossing Films (adjusted for inflation):
Not available.

Awards:
1975 Academy Awards - Winner, Best Original Score - The Godfather Part II
1973 Golden Globes - Winner, Best Original Score - The Godfather
1975 Golden Globes - Nominee, Best Original Score - The Godfather Part II
1969 Golden Globes - Nominee, Best Original Score - Romeo & Juliet
1972 BAFTA Awards – Winner, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – The Godfather
1975 BAFTA Awards – Nominee, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – The Godfather Part II
1968 BAFTA Awards – Nominee, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – Romeo and Juliet
1973 Grammy Awards – Winner, Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television – The Godfather

Links:
Nino Rota Collection

The Abdication Accade Al Penitenziario/Un Eroe Dei Nostri Tempi Amarcord Il Bidone Casanova The Clowns La Dolce Vita 81/2 Il Gattopardo The Godfather The Godfather: Part II The Godfather: Part III Italian Brigands Juliet of the Spirits Il Maestro di Vigevano/Fortunella/La Grande Guerra Love and Anarchy Orchestra Rehearsal Rocco and His Brothers Romeo and Juliet La Strada/Le Notti di Cabiria The Taming of the Shrew Waterloo


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