
Michel Legrand
Known for SoundBorn 1932-02-24Died 2019-01-26Bécon-les-Bruyères, Paris, France
Michel Jean Legrand (24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist, and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written more than 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and additional Oscars for Summer of '42 (1971) and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983). Legrand was born in Paris, France, to his father, Raymond Legrand, who was himself a conductor and composer, and his mother, Marcelle Der-Mikaëlian, who was the sister of conductor Jacques Hélian. Raymond and Marcelle were married in 1929. His maternal grandfather was Armenian. Legrand composed more than two hundred film and television scores. He won three Oscars and five Grammys. He studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris from the age of 11, working with, among others, Nadia Boulanger and graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist. He burst upon the international music scene at 22 when his 1954 album I Love Paris became a surprise hit. He established his name in the United States by working with such jazz stars as Miles Davis and Stan Getz. His sister Christiane Legrand was a member of The Swingle Singers and his niece Victoria Legrand is a member of the dream pop band Beach House. Legrand composed music for Jacques Demy's films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) (from which Recit de Cassard came and in turn, in English became the standard Watch What Happens) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), from which the relyricized "You Must Believe in Spring" is considered a jazz standard. Legrand appeared and performed in Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 (1961). He also composed music for Joseph Losey's Eva (1962), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) (which features "The Windmills of Your Mind"), Ice Station Zebra (1968), The Picasso Summer (1969), The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970), The Go-Between (1971), Summer of '42 (1971), Clint Eastwood's Breezy (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), Orson Welles's last-completed film F for Fake (1974), TriStar Pictures 1998 family film Madeline, and would later compose the score for Welles's posthumously released movie The Other Side of the Wind (2018). He also composed the score for Yentl (1983), as well as the film score for Louis Malle's film Atlantic City (1980). His instrumental version of the theme from Brian's Song charted 56th in 1972 on the Billboard's pop chart. Legrand died of sepsis, during the night of 25–26 January 2019, at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he had been hospitalized for two weeks for a pulmonary infection. His funeral was held in Paris at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on 1 February 2019. He was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery. He remained active until his death and had concerts scheduled to take place in the spring. ... Source: Article "Michel Legrand" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.Read more
Movies & web series
★ 10.0View details →
Un film et son époque
2003 · Series
★ 10.0View details →
Carnaval
1990 · Movie
★ 10.0View details →
The Adventures Of Don Quixote
1973 · Movie
★ 9.0View details →
Quincy Jones, Music Man
2025 · Movie
★ 9.5View details →
Spécial cinéma
1974 · Series
★ 9.0View details →
Michel Legrand, sans demi-mesure
2018 · Movie
★ 8.7View details →
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
2015 · Movie
To Catch a Pebble
★ 9.0View details →
To Catch a Pebble
1970 · Movie
★ 9.0View details →
The Lovers of the France
1964 · Movie
★ 8.8View details →
Un coupable
1988 · Movie
★ 8.5View details →
Once Upon a Time... Planet Earth
2008 · Series
★ 9.0View details →
Visages de Paris
1955 · Movie
★ 8.5View details →
Flight from Paradise
1990 · Movie
★ 8.7View details →
Cinépanorama
1956 · Series
★ 8.0View details →
Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort
2021 · Movie
★ 8.5View details →
Le Grand Escroc
1964 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
2008 · Movie
★ 8.2View details →
Once Upon a Time… Man
1978 · Series
★ 8.1View details →
The Jesse Owens Story
1984 · Movie
★ 8.3View details →
The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean
1966 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
One Can Say It Without Getting Angry
1978 · Movie
★ 7.7View details →
The Beaches of Agnès
2008 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
Le Grand Échiquier
1972 · Series
★ 7.8View details →
Once Upon a Time... Life
1987 · Series
Behind the Screen
★ 8.0View details →
Behind the Screen
1966 · Series
★ 8.0View details →
The Lovely Month of May
1963 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
A Swelled Head
1962 · Movie
★ 8.0View details →
Discorama
1959 · Series
★ 7.6View details →
Once Upon a Time... The Discoverers
1994 · Series
★ 7.6View details →
Once Upon a Time... The Americas
1992 · Series
★ 7.7View details →
A Woman Called Golda
1982 · Movie
★ 7.5View details →
Once Upon a Time... The Explorers
1996 · Series
★ 7.2View details →
Jacques Demy: The Pink and the Black
2024 · Movie
★ 7.2View details →
La La La
2018 · Movie
★ 7.5View details →
Promises to Keep
1985 · Movie
★ 7.7View details →
The Young Girls of Rochefort
1967 · Movie
★ 7.6View details →
Our Time
1974 · Movie
★ 7.7View details →
Vivre Sa Vie
1962 · Movie
★ 7.7View details →
Cléo from 5 to 7
1962 · Movie
★ 7.5View details →
Numéro un
1975 · Series
★ 7.4View details →
Once Upon a Time… Space
1982 · Series
★ 7.4View details →
F for Fake
1973 · Movie
★ 7.5View details →
Band of Outsiders
1964 · Movie
★ 7.5View details →
Lust
1962 · Movie
★ 7.2View details →
The Young Girls Turn 25
1993 · Movie
★ 7.3View details →
It's Good to Be Alive
1974 · Movie
★ 7.0View details →
Amber Wings
2003 · Movie
★ 7.4View details →
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
1964 · Movie