Michel Legrand
Also Known As: Michel Jean Legrand
Biography: Michel Jean Legrand (24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for 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). Legrand was born in Paris to his father, Raymond Legrand, who was himself a conductor and composer, and his mother, Marcelle Ter-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 age 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 album I Love Paris (album) 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) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), and 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) 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. In 1997, Legrand composed the score for the musical Le Passe-muraille, with a book by Didier Van Cauwelaert. It premiered on Broadway in 2002 as Amour and was translated into English by Jeremy Sams and was directed by James Lapine. This musical was his Broadway debut and he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for Best Score. Later he recorded Legrand Affair with Melissa Errico, a 100-piece symphony orchestra that included songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. ... Source: Article "Michel Legrand" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Department: Sound
Place of Birth: Bécon-les-Bruyères, Paris, France
Adult: No
Birthday: February 24, 1932
Age: 93 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: January 26, 2019
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Known For:
Hommage à Michel Legrand et Jacques Demy au festival Sœurs Jumelles
Overview:
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2021-08-16
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Her Last Christmas
Overview: A very ill little girl having expressed the wish to live until Christmas, the whole neighborhood agrees to anticipate the celebration.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1952-12-12
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Dans les pas de Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2022-03-24
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The World of Jacques Demy
Overview: Agnès Varda's documentary portrait of her late husband, Jacques Demy. A companion piece to her Jacquot de Nantes.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1995-09-22
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The Young Girls Turn 25
Overview: Agnes Varda's documentary of the celebrations arising from the 25th anniversary of her husband Jacques Demy's film The Young Girls of Rochefort.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1993-05-19
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A Final Cut for Orson: 40 Years in the Making
Overview: A glimpse behind the scenes into the complicated process of recovering and completing Orson Welles' final film The Other Side of the Wind.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-09-01
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Callas Assoluta
Overview: This revealing documentary from director Philippe Kohly examines the storied life of renowned soprano Maria Callas, from her troubled childhood in New York City to her scandal-laden but triumphant international career in opera. Featuring archival interviews with Callas herself and footage of contemporaries such as her lover Aristotle Onassis, this celebration of "La Divina" pays tribute to her enduring legacy some three decades after her death.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2007-12-20
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Cléo from 5 to 7
Overview: Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1962-04-11
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L’Or et le plomb
Overview: The story is based on Voltaire's tale "Le monde comme il va" ("The world as it is"). Sent by the genie who presides over the destiny of Persepolis (Paris!), the Scythian Babouc carefully informs himself of everything, to tell the genie whether or not to destroy the city. This is the pretext for a series of interviews, scenes taken on the spot or reconstructed in the studio. We meet a musician who lives for his art and a Marxist historian, both of them optimists in the end; but also a war widow and an economically weak old lady: while the "fureur de vivre" gives free rein to the Golf Drouot and socialites hide their turpitudes behind a façade of good manners. A large, poorly housed family bravely faces up to its fate, and the children are happy; a working-class household talks about the union struggle, inhumane working conditions and reasons for hope. Finally, a poet sums it all up by talking about his commitment to the service of mankind.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1966-03-16
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Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer
Overview: "Frankie Laine: An American Dreamer" is a feature-length documentary. In this entertaining look at the legendary singer's life, hosted by two-time Grammy award singer Lou Rawls, Frankie tells his own story. Classic archive footage of the great performances of the past has been painstakingly collected, and new interview material shot with distinguished guests such as Clint Eastwood,Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Dick Clark, Ringo Starr, Patti Page, Pat Boone, Maria Cole, Mitch Miller, Michel Legrand, John Williams, Kay Starr, Jack Jones, Herb Jeffries, Peter Marshall, Howard Keel, Terry Moore, Lucy Marlow, Sammy Nestico, and A.C. Lyles. From Dick Clark's American Bandstand to The Bob Hope Show, from Rawhide to Blazing Saddles, from the Ed Sullivan Show to Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, audiences will journey through the life of one of the most popular male vocalists of all time.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2006-01-23
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A Time for Loving
Overview: The story of an apartment in Paris and the various people that occupy it over the years.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-04-01
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Love Lasts Three Years
Overview: A heartbroken literary critic turns his despair into creativity following a bitter divorce, only to encounter an enchanting beauty who poses a major challenge to his newfound cynicism. Marc Marronnier thought his marriage was going well until his wife deemed him immature, and left him for a high-profile writer. Devastated, he began filtering all of his heartache into a misanthropic manuscript decrying the virtues of true love. But later, when Marc falls hard for his cousin's radiant and gorgeous wife, his entire life is turned upside down. Louise Bourgoin and Gaspard Proust star in a film by actor and author-turned-director Frederic Beigbeder.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2011-12-10
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The Beaches of Agnès
Overview: Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2008-12-17
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Ann-Margret Smith
Overview: Book-ending the year 1975 with two big budget TV Specials, Ann -Margret also earned her second Oscar nomination that year, for Tommy. In January, "Ann-Margret Olssen" premiered and was titled with the star's maiden name. This second special premiered late in the year and was titled with the star's married name. Her husband Roger Smith also appears in the opening sequences. Presented by the Bell System's Family Theatre, the program was filmed at the ATV Studios at BBC Elstree Centre, Borehamwood, England.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-11-20
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Michel Legrand, sans demi-mesure
Overview: This documentary recounts the life of the late composer Michel Legrand, known for his works on Les Parapluies de Cherbourg or Les Demoiselles De Rochefort with the famous director Jacques Demy.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2018-12-25
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La La La
Overview: When the silent cinema learned to speak, the audience was surprised not only by the voices of the actors and the sound effects, but also by a new element, the music, which, combined with the dance and an unprejudiced imagination, gave rise to a new genre, as important to Hollywood cinema as the western was: the musical. A journey through the history of this genre, from its beginnings to the present day.
Genres: Documentary TV Movie
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2018-11-25
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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Overview: This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1964-02-19
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Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Overview: Television documentary about the making of Jacques Demy's 1964 film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg".
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2008-05-18
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Françoise Dorléac, une promesse
Overview: A portray of French actress Françoise Dorléac
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-07-10
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Once Upon a Time Michel Legrand
Overview: Michel Legrand, jazz musician and composer extraordinaire, has left his mark on the history of cinema, including the films of Jacques Demy, especially The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the 60th anniversary of which is being celebrated in Cannes. Using never-before-seen archives and personal accounts, the film looks back on a lifetime dedicated to music, and the career of a man who served it masterfully to the very end.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2024-12-04
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Behind the screens : Les demoiselles de Rochefort
Overview: Six-part documentary on the making of Jacques Demy's 'Le demoiselles de Rochefort'
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1966-01-01
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La chanson 'Lola'
Overview: Michel Legrand, Agnès Varda, and Anouk Aimee share the story behind the song they created for Jacques Demy's first feature film, LOLA, “C’est moi, c’est Lola".
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2008-12-31
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Michel Legrand and the Cinema
Overview: Recorded at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, the award-winning composer, conductor, songwriter and pianist performs a selection of his film scores accompanied by the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France. Performers featured include Patrick Fiori, Liane Foly, Maurane, Mario Pelchat, Catherine Michel and Helene Sagara.
Genres: Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2011-04-26
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