Michel Legrand

Composer

About

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Also Known As

Michel Jean Legrand

Birth Place

Paris, FR

Born

February 24, 1932

Biography

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Child prodigy who worked as a piano accompanist for singers including Juliette Greco and Bing Crosby and enjoyed success as composer and singer of popular music before turning his attention to the screen in the mid-1950s. His lushly melodic work graced the early films of New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda and he has subsequently worked with international figures i...

Filmography

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Cinq jours en juin (1989)

Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)

Time For Loving (1971)

Donkey Skin (1970)

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

Bob, the pianist

Cinq jours en juin (1989)

Photos & Videos

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Lady Sings The Blues -- (Movie Clip) Open, New York City 1936

Thomas Crown Affair, The (1968) -- Let's Play Something Else

Notes

Formed a Paris-based Productions Michel Legrand.

Biography

Child prodigy who worked as a piano accompanist for singers including Juliette Greco and Bing Crosby and enjoyed success as composer and singer of popular music before turning his attention to the screen in the mid-1950s. His lushly melodic work graced the early films of New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda and he has subsequently worked with international figures including Norman Jewison, Joseph Losey, Kon Ichikawa and Orson Welles. Legrand has also enjoyed a long and fruitful association with countryman Jacques Demy, composing and conducting the music for his internationally popular romantic musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). Legrand won Oscars for his hit song "The Windmills of Your Mind" (1968) and his scores for "Summer of '42" (1971) and "Yentl" (1983). He made his feature directing debut with "Five Days in June" (1989), an autobiographical war drama set in Normandy circa 1944. Son of Raymond Legrand (1908-74), a French film composer of the 1940s and 50s.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Cinq jours en juin (1989)

Cast (Feature Film)

Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)

Time For Loving (1971)

Donkey Skin (1970)

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

Bob, the pianist

Writer (Feature Film)

Cinq jours en juin (1989)

Music (Feature Film)

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

Deadpool 2 (2018)

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

Confetti (2006)

Connie and Carla (2004)

The In-Laws (2003)

The In-Laws (2003)

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2002)

The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

Music ("Di-Gue-Ding-Ding")

Brian's Song (2001)

La Buche (2000)

Set Me Free (1999)

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Clay Pigeons (1998)

Madeline (1998)

Clay Pigeons (1998)

Madeline (1998)

Song ("The Cuckoo And The Nightingale")

Aaron's Magic Village (1997)

One Hundred and One Nights (1995)

Les Enfants de Lumiere (1995)

Les Miserables (1995)

Ready to Wear (1994)

The Pickle (1993)

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)

Song ("Chess Anyone" From "The Thomas Crown Affair")

Eternity (1990)

Fuga dal Paradiso (1990)

Gaspard et Robinson (1990)

La Boutique de l'orfevre (1989)

Cinq jours en juin (1989)

Trois places pour le 26 (1988)

Switching Channels (1988)

Switching Channels (1988)

Club de rencontres (1987)

Casanova (1987)

Words and Music (1986)

As Summers Die (1986)

Words and Music (1986)

Promises To Keep (1985)

Secret Places (1984)

Music; Music Director

Slapstick Of Another Kind (1984)

Eine Liebe in Deutschland (1984)

Train d'Enfer (1984)

Partir Revenir (1984)

Secret Places (1984)

Song ("Secret Places")

Les Uns et les autres (1984)

Micki & Maude (1984)

Song ("Something In My Life")

La Revanche des humanoides (1983)

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Music; Music Director

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Best Friends (1982)

Le Cadeau (1982)

Friends of the Family (1982)

Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David? (1982)

Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David? (1982)

Best Friends (1982)

Songs ("How Do You Keep The Music Playing?" "Think About Love")

Finishing Touch (1981)

Melvin and Howard (1980)

Falling in Love Again (1980)

Melvin and Howard (1980)

Hi no tori (1980)

The Hunter (1980)

Atlantic City (1980)

The Mountain Men (1980)

Les Fabuleuses aventures du legendaire baron de Munchausen (1979)

Funny Valentine (1979)

Je vous ferai aimer la vie (1979)

Lady Oscar (1979)

Black Joy (1978)

Song ("Summer Of '42")

Le Baratineur (1978)

La Belle emmerdeuse (1978)

Mon premier amour (1978)

Roads to the South (1978)

Ca fait tilt! (1978)

On peut le dire sans se facher (1978)

Gulliver's Travels (1977)

Semi-Tough (1977)

The Other Side of Midnight (1977)

Gable and Lombard (1976)

Ode To Billy Joe (1976)

Voyage de Noces Le (1976)

Voyage de Noces Le (1976)

Section Speciale (1975)

La Ville bidon (1975)

Le Sauvage (1975)

The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1975)

Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (1975)

Cage Without a Key (1975)

It's Good to Be Alive (1974)

Our Time (1974)

F for Fake (1973)

40 Carats (1973)

Impossible Object (1973)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

The Outside Man (1973)

Longue distance oblige (1973)

A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973)

The Nelson Affair (1973)

The Adventures of Don Quixote (1973)

A Doll's House (1973)

Portnoy's Complaint (1972)

Music Composition and Conducting

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Pas Folle la Guepe (1972)

Le Gang des Otages (1972)

One is a Lonely Number (1972)

Ma Mie, ma Loue (1972)

Summer of '42 (1971)

Music Composition and Conducting

The Go-Between (1971)

Music Composition and Conducting

Summer of '42 (1971)

Un Peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (1971)

Time For Loving (1971)

Le Vieille Fille (1971)

Brian's Song (1971)

La Poudre d'escampette (1971)

Les Maries de l'an Deux (1971)

Les Feux de la Chandeleur (1971)

Wuthering Heights (1970)

Music comp & Conductor

Pieces of Dreams (1970)

Music comp & Conductor

The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun (1970)

Music comp & Conductor

The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1970)

Music comp & Conductor

The Swimming Pool (1970)

The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)

The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun (1970)

Pieces of Dreams (1970)

Darling Lili (1970)

The Picasso Summer (1970)

Donkey Skin (1970)

The Happy Ending (1969)

Music comp & Conductor

Castle Keep (1969)

Music comp & Conductor

The Happy Ending (1969)

Music: "what are you doing the rest of your life?"

Play Dirty (1969)

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Music Composition and Conducting

Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Music comp & Conductor

How To Save a Marriage--And Ruin Your Life (1968)

Music comp & Conductor

The Oldest Profession (1968)

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1968)

Music writ & Director

Sweet November (1968)

Music comp & Conductor

A Matter of Innocence (1968)

Music comp & Conductor

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1968)

How To Save a Marriage--And Ruin Your Life (1968)

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

A Matter of Innocence (1968)

Sweet November (1968)

Tender Scoundrel (1967)

La vie de château (1967)

Band of Outsiders (1966)

A Ravishing Idiot (1966)

The Winner (1965)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Music comp & Conductor

A Woman Is a Woman (1964)

Bay of the Angels (1964)

A Woman Is a Woman (1964)

Le joli mai (1963)

Seven Capital Sins (1963)

Music for "Anger," "Envy," "Gluttony," "Lust" and "Laziness"

The French Game (1963)

Love Is a Ball (1963)

My Life To Live (1963)

Le joli mai (1963)

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

The Counterfeiters of Paris (1962)

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

Terrain vague (1960)

Lovers' Net (1955)

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (1990)

Director (Special)

Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird (1978)

Cast (Special)

Laura Fygi: Live From the Royal Carre (1999)

The Shirley Bassey Special (1981)

Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird (1978)

Ann-Margret Smith (1975)

Music (Special)

Laura Fygi: Live From the Royal Carre (1999)

Laura Fygi: Live From the Royal Carre (1999)

Music Conductor

Time Warner Presents the Earth Day Special (1990)

Tony Bennett (1988)

Blind Sunday (1976)

Music (Short)

Visages de Paris (1955)

Music (TV Mini-Series)

The Ring (1996)

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1990)

Crossings (1986)

The Jesse Owens Story (1984)

The Jesse Owens Story (1984)

Music Conductor

A Woman Called Golda (1982)

Life Events

1954

Recorded first album as arranger, "I Love Paris"

1955

Moved to the USA

1955

Composed first film score for "Les Amants du Tage/Lovers' Net"

1962

Made first onscreen appearance in "Cleo From 5 to 7"

1989

Feature film directing debut (also writer; composer), "Cinque jours en juin/Five Days in June"

Videos

Lady Sings The Blues -- (Movie Clip) Open, New York City 1936 Newsy opening credit sequence for Berry Gordy's production of the Billie Holliday biography Lady Sings The Blues, 1972, starring Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor.

Thomas Crown Affair, The (1968) -- Let's Play Something Else After the pantomime with the chess pieces, Vicki (Faye Dunaway) and Steve McQueen (title character) in the often-mocked "360" shot, in Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968, photography by Haskell Wexler.

Thomas Crown Affair, The (1968) -- (Movie Clip) Windmills Of Your Mind The snazzy opening from director Norman Jewison (and editors Hal Ashby and Ralph Winters), Noel Harrison’s vocal on the hit tune by Michel Legrand and Alan & Marilyn Bergman, leading to title character Steve McQueen interrogating clownish recruit Jack Weston, in The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968.

How To Save a Marriage And Ruin Your Life -- (Movie Clip) Open, Winds of Change How 60's can you get? Ambience from the Ray Conniff Singers with Michel Legrand and Mack David's "Winds of Change," the opening to How To Save a Marriage And Ruin Your Life, 1968, starring Dean Martin and Stella Stevens.

Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962) -- (Movie Clip) For My Baby Doll Among the kookiest and most charming bits in any French New Wave film, director Agnès Varda brings Cleo (Corinne Marchand), awaiting her cancer test result, and friend Dorothèe (Dorothèe Blank) to see Raoul (Raymond Cauchetier), who’s screening a short featuring pals Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina, Eddie Constantine and Jean-Claude Brialy, in Cleo From 5 To 7, 1962.

Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962) -- (Movie Clip) This Card Is Not Necessarily Death Director Agnès Varda’s unforgettable opening, the only color sequence in the film, Loye Payen doing the tarot reading for the title character, Corinne Marchand, from the feminist “Left Bank” and New Wave landmark Cleo From 5 To 7, 1962.

Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Her And Her Hysterics Writer and director Agnès Varda signals her second chapter, as Corinne Marchand (title character), after an ominous tarot card reading, and awaiting the result of her cancer test, meets Angèle (Dominique Davray), whom we will soon learn is her maid, in Cleo From 5 To 7, 1962.

Three Musketeers, The (1973) -- (Movie Clip) Bishop To Queen Two Director Richard Lester's smooth introductions of Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston), the queen (Geraldine Chaplin) and King Louis XIII (Jean-Pierre Cassel), playing lawn-chess with pooches, in The Three Musketeers,1973, from George MacDonald Fraser's screenplay.

Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Un Film De Jacques Demy Director Jacques Demy's improbable on location opening begins to suggest the visual style, and provides the first sample of Michel Legrand's international hit theme, in the one-of-a-kind musical that made Catherine Deneuve a star, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, 1964.

Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Too Ugly Or Too Stupid? On location at the Normandy title-town, teen Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) with boyfriend Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), then at work with mother (Anne Vernon), music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by director Jacques Demy, in the acclaimed sung-through musical The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, 1964.

Young Girls Of Rochefort (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Le Pont Transbordeur The fascinating opening, with the American dance troupe led by George Chakiris and Grover Dale, arriving in the real town of Rochefort, Jacques Demy directing from his screenplay, music by Michel Legrand, in the New Wave/Hollywood hybrid musical The Young Girls Of Rochefort, 1967.

Young Girls Of Rochefort (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Chanson Des Jumelles From opening scenes on location on the square in Rochefort, director Jacques Demy has swooped into a studio where twins (and real-life sisters) Catherine Deneuve and Francoise Dorleac have just finished a class, song by Demy and Michel Legrand, in The Young Girls Of Rochefort, 1967.

One Is A Lonely Number - (Original Trailer) A young woman (Trish Van Devere), abandoned by her husband, cannot accept that her marriage is over in One Is a Lonely Number (1972).

Cops and Robbers - (Original Trailer) Joseph Bologna and Cliff Gorman are NYC police who turn to crime to augment their pensions in Cops And Robbers (1973).

Yentl - (Original Trailer) Barbara Streisand stars in and directs Yentl (1983) based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's story of a Jewish girl who passes as a boy to study the Torah.

Pieces of Dreams - (Original Trailer) A young priest falls in love with a social worker in Pieces of Dreams (1970).

Ice Station Zebra -- (Original Trailer) A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship in Ice Station Zebra (1968), starring Rock Hudson & Jim Brown.

Family

Raymond Legrand

Father

Music director and arranger, pianist. Born 1908, died 1974.

Marcelle Legrand

Mother

Christiane Legrand

Sister

Singer.

Herve Legrand

Son

Benjamin Legrand

Son

Eugenie Legrand

Daughter

Bibliography

Notes

Formed a Paris-based Productions Michel Legrand.

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