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IMDbPro

Michel Legrand(1932-2019)

  • Composer
  • Music Department
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Michel Legrand at an event for Max Rose (2013)
Trailer for Le Joli Mai
Play trailer1:58
Le joli mai (1963)
1 Video
18 Photos
Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.

He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, France. His father, Raymond Legrand, was a French composer and actor. His mother, Marcelle der Mikaelian, was descended from the Armenian bourgeousie. From 1942 - 1949 young Legrand studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire. There his teachers were Nadia Boulanger and Henri Challan among other renown musicians. He received numerous awards for his skills in composition and piano and mastered a dozen other instruments. In 1947 he attended a concert by Dizzy Gillespie and caught a jazz bug. He started working as a pianist for major French singers. He eventually collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie on several albums and film scores.

In 1954 Legrand became an overnight star after his album "I Love Paris" became a hit, it went on selling over 8 million copies. He followed the success with such albums as "Holiday in Rome" (1955) and "Michel Legrand Plays Cole Porter" (1957). In 1958 he was invited to play at Moscow Festival of Students and Youth. There, in Moscow, he met his future wife, a young French model with who he went on to have three children.

In the late 1950s and 1960s Legrand was caught up in the French New Wave. He scored seven films for jean-Luc Godard, he also made ten films with Jacques Demy, and became responsible for creating the genre of musical in the French Cinema. In 1963 Legrand did The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), the first film musical that was entirely sung. For that film score he received three Oscar nominations. His beautiful, haunting melody, "I Will Wait For You", received nomination for Best Original Song.

In 1966 Legrand decided to take his chances in Hollywood, and moved to Los Angeles with his wife and three children. His friendship with Quincy Jones and Hank Mancini helped him a great deal, especially in meeting the lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. In 1969 Legrand won his first Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for "The Windmills of Your Mind" and was also nominated for Best Music, Original score for a Motion Picture for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Eventually Legrand went on to become a star in the US, he received twelve nominations for Academy Awards, and won two more Oscars. He was also nominated for a Grammy 27 times and received 5 Grammys in the 1970s.

In the 1980s and 1990s Legrand continued giving live concerts with his own jazz trio. He also led his big band which he took on several international tours, accompanying such stars as Ray Charles , Diana Ross , Björk , and Stéphane Grappelli who celebrated his 85th birthday in 1992. He also recorded several classical albums, including an album with cross-genre hits entitled "Kiri Sings Michel Legrand" with the opera singer Kiri te Kanawa. During the 2000s Legrand has been working mainly in the studio, and also made several international tours.

In 2005 a compilation of Legrand's best known film soundtracks was released under the title "Le Cinema de Michel Legrand", featuring 90 songs composed in the course of his career.
BornFebruary 24, 1932
DiedJanuary 26, 2019(86)
BornFebruary 24, 1932
DiedJanuary 26, 2019(86)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Won 3 Oscars

Photos18

Michel Legrand in Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Michel Legrand, Dominique Davray, Serge Korber, and Corinne Marchand in Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Michel Legrand and Corinne Marchand in Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Michel Legrand and Andrée Lachapelle in L'heure du concert (1954)
Michel Legrand and Corinne Marchand in Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Michel Legrand
Barbra Streisand and Michel Legrand
Barbra Streisand, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, and Alan Bergman
Barbra Streisand and Michel Legrand
Barbra Streisand and Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Barbra Streisand, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, and Alan Bergman

Known for

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The Thomas Crown Affair
6.9
  • Composer
  • 1968
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
7.8
  • Composer
  • 1964
Yentl (1983)
Yentl
6.6
  • Composer
  • 1983
Steve McQueen in Le Mans (1971)
Le Mans
6.7
  • Composer
  • 1971

Credits

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IMDbPro

Composer

  • Morning Shine
    • Pre-production
  • William Leymergie in William à Midi (2017)
    William à Midi
    • (score and jingles composed by)
  • Clara Luciani et Vladimir Cauchemar: La chanson de Delphine
  • Agnès Varda in Varda by Agnès (2019)
    Varda by Agnès
  • I Lost Albert (2018)
    I Lost Albert
  • Peter Bogdanovich, John Huston, and Susan Strasberg in The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
    The Other Side of the Wind
  • Iris Bry in The Guardians (2017)
    The Guardians
  • Le Point Culture (2009)
    Le Point Culture
  • The Price of Fame (2014)
    The Price of Fame
  • Il était une fois... notre Terre (2009)
    Il était une fois... notre Terre
  • Oscar and the Lady in Pink (2009)
    Oscar and the Lady in Pink
  • Disco (2008)
    Disco
  • Deadly Lessons (2006)
    Deadly Lessons
  • Titoff in Cavalcade (2005)
    Cavalcade
  • Ne (1975)
    Léaud de Hurle-dents
  • Yantarnye krylya (2003)
    Yantarnye krylya

Music Department

  • William Leymergie in William à Midi (2017)
    William à Midi
  • Thierry Genovese and Vince Rogers in ITV Celebrites Interviews (2018)
    ITV Celebrites Interviews
  • Neda Malunaviciute ir Povilas Jaraminas: What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life
  • Oscar and the Lady in Pink (2009)
    Oscar and the Lady in Pink
  • Titoff in Cavalcade (2005)
    Cavalcade
  • The Log (1999)
    The Log
  • Torin's Passage (1995)
    Torin's Passage
  • The Real Shlemiel (1995)
    The Real Shlemiel
    • ...
  • Helena Christensen in Ready to Wear (1994)
    Ready to Wear
  • Inspiration (1991)
    Inspiration
  • Coup de foudre
  • Ransom
  • Puerto Verde
  • Pas de deux
  • A Ilha

Actor

  • The Price of Fame (2014)
    The Price of Fame
    • (voice)
  • Partir, revenir (1985)
    Partir, revenir
    • (uncredited)
  • Echt tu matsch
  • A Time for Loving (1972)
    A Time for Loving
  • L'or et le plomb (1966)
    L'or et le plomb
  • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
    The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
    • (singing voice, uncredited)
  • Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
    Cléo from 5 to 7
  • Son dernier Noël (1952)
    Son dernier Noël
    • (uncredited)

Videos1

Le Joli Mai
Trailer 1:58
Le Joli Mai

Personal details

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  • Official sites
    • France's national library catalogue
    • Official Site
    • February 24, 1932
    • Paris, France
    • January 26, 2019
    • Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France(septicemia)
    • Macha MérilSeptember 18, 2014 - January 26, 2019 (his death)
    • Olivier Constantin
    • Raymond Legrand
    • Jacques Hélian(Aunt or Uncle)
  • Other works
    Unused score: The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Was nominated for Broadway's 2003 Tony Award as Best Original Music Score, his music with lyrics by Didier Van Cauwelaert and English adaptation by Jeremy Sams, for "Amour."
    • Begins a composition in a melancholic minor key, segues into a major upbeat key for several bars, and concludes in a minor key - "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", "The Summer Knows", "The Way He Makes Me Feel", etc.

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