- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHugo Mario Montenegro
- Hugo Montenegro was born on September 2, 1925 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Strange Days (1995), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) and Labor Day (2013). He died on February 6, 1981 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- His recording of the theme song from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" reached #2 on the U.S. charts in June of 1968. In this highly stylized instrumental recording, the distinctive grunting on the soundtrack is Montenegro himself mumbling nonsensical syllables in Italian.
- The Farmer (1977) with Montenegro's chilling electronic music score earned an X rating until producer/director David Berlatsky had the review board review the film again without the music score and the rating was changed from X to R, which allowed Columbia Pictures to distribute the film for 17 years. The music rights in order to release a DVD sale could not be obtained as the estate could not be found, the score is considered "lost".
- Upon his death, his remains were interred at Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California, USA. His location plot is 11-3, #G.
- He was hired by Time Records as a musical director producing a series of albums for the label, and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s where he began working for RCA Victor, producing a series of albums and soundtracks for motion pictures and television themes, such as two volumes of Music From The Man From U.N.C.L.E., an album of cover versions of spy music themes Come Spy With Me and an album of cover versions of Ennio Morricone's music for Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy that led to major chart hits.
- His best-known work is derived from interpretations of the music from Spaghetti Westerns, especially his cover version of Ennio Morricone's main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
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