Ahead of Oscars, composer Morricone honored with Walk of Fame star

By Roselle Chen LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, nominated for an Oscar this year for his work on "The Hateful Eight," was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Friday, honoring his diverse career spanning decades. Morricone, 87, has composed the scores for more than 450 films, from 1960s Spaghetti Westerns including "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" to Quentin Tarantino's frontier drama "The Hateful Eight." "The international composers that had written in film, they have never had the pleasure that I have had today," Morricone said in Italian at Friday's ceremony. "I never would have said it would be me, I never thought I would get it, when I would get it, if I would get it," Morricone said about his Oscar nomination.