- Born
- Died
- Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His was the first Italian jazz band to be aired in Italy. Piero Piccioni had listened to jazz since he was a child and had learned to play the piano without having been to the Conservatory. As a self-taught musician, his father used to accompany him to visit the E.I.A.R. in Florence, to listen to orchestral recitals. As he began to write some songs of his own he was able to get some published by Carisch. Having written nearly 300 soundtracks and pieces for radio, television, ballets and orchestra he was deeply influenced by 20th century classical composers and by American cinematography. Amongst his favourites were Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Alex North, who had greatly influenced him in his use of jazz.
Piero Piccioni had come in contact with the world of movies during the fifties when he was practicing as a lawyer in Rome and sealing movie rights for Italian Italian distributors as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called him to create music for a documentary for one of his apprentices, Luigi Polidoro. His first feature film was Gianni Franciolini's, "Il Mondo le Condanna"(1952). Piccioni had found a close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi (More Than A Miracle, Le Mani Sulla Citta', Salvatore Giuliano, Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and Alberto Sordi, and had also cemented strong personal and professional bonds with them. Many directors had wanted Piero Piccioni for the music for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and more. "Swept Away"(David Donatello prize) and "Tutto A Posto Niente in Ordine" by Lina Wertmuller, "Il bell'Antonio" by Mauro Bolognini , the "Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, with Marcello Mastroianni Ursula Andress also bear his name. His very distinctive style of Jazz, Bossanova, Orchestral and Contemporary Classical will not be easily forgotten.- IMDb mini biography by: Jason P
- He was one of the suspects of the politically motivated 1953 Wilma Montesi manslaughter case, her drowned body being found on a beach near Rome. He was later acquitted of the accusations on all counts as he had never met the lady and was actually in Amalfi with his girlfriend Alida Valli at the time of the girl's passing. The accusers, which represented occult interests were found guilty of perjury (calumny) and defamation. Nonetheless, because of the media scandal created his father stood down as Foreign Minister and secretary of the Party and his political career was ruined. The Wilma Montesi murder remains unsolved. This case inspired Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita as the investigation exposed the vices of of Roman society at the time.
- Italian composer who wrote music for over 300 movies in Italy and abroad for four decades. Debuted as a pianist in the late 1930s and then worked in a jazz orchestra in the early 1940s before composing for the big screen.
- Father of composer/actor Jason Piccioni. Mother is Gloria Paul.
- Son of prominent Italian politician, Attilio Piccioni and lover of actress Alida Valli.
- Was engaged to Alida Valli in the fifties.
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