High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Nino Rota (December 3, 1911, Milan – April 10, 1979, Rome) was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli`s Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola`s Godfather trilogy, receiving for the latter the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1974.