Oscar for Untouchables composer

Morricone is also a conductor - he made his UK concert debut in 2001

Italian composer Ennio Morricone, the man behind the music for films such as The Untouchables and Cinema Paradiso, is to receive an honorary Oscar.

The 78-year-old, who has composed more than 300 scores during his 45-year career, will receive the award at the Academy Awards ceremony on 25 February.

Nominated for original score five times, he has never won an Oscar.

"I am stunned but happy," he said. "The Oscar is coming my way while I am still fully active in my profession."

Morricone made his name on Sergio Leone's 'spaghetti westerns', such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The pair met while at school in Rome.

'Nice surprise'

"In my life, I've never sought the centre stage," said Morricone. "I have never asked a director to be allowed to work with him and I've never asked anybody to promote me."

"The Oscar is a nice surprise. I had stopped thinking about it."

The composer has received Oscar nominations for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991) and Malena (2000).

Academy President Sid Ganis praised him for the "remarkable number of scores" he has written.

"So many of them are beloved and popular masterpieces," he said.

Morricone's next score is for the film Leningrad, about the siege of the city by the German army during World War II. It is due for release in 2008.