Michel Legrand

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Michel Legrand (born February 24, 1932 in Paris) is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor and pianist.

Legrand has composed over 200 film and television scores, several musicals, and made well over a hundred albums. He has won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations), five Grammys, and has been nominated for an Emmy. He was 22 when his very first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. He is a virtuoso jazz and classical pianist, and an accomplished arranger and conductor who performs with orchestras all over the world.

In the early 1950s, Legrand was one of the first Europeans to work with legendary jazz innovators Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz and Bill Evans.

During various periods of creative work, Legrand became a conductor for orchestras in St. Petersburg, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta and Denver. He recorded over 100 albums with international musical stars (spanning the genres of jazz, variety and even classical). He worked with such musicians as Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Jack Jones, Regine Velasquez, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Lena Horne, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, James Ingram, Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand.

His sister, Christiane Legrand, was a member of The Swingle Singers.

Contents 1 Cinematic scores 2 Filmography 3 Awards 3.1 Academy Award nominations 3.2 Golden Globe nominations 3.3 Grammy Award nominations 3.4 Theatre nominations 3.5 Emmy Award nominations 3.6 Fennecus nominations 3.7 Apex nominations 3.8 Australian Film Institute Award nominations 3.9 Prix Moliere Award (France) 3.10 ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) 3.11 Golden Eagle Award 4 External links

[edit] Cinematic scores

Legrand is known principally as a composer of innovative cinema music, composing film scores (about 200 to date) for directors Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brooks, Claude Lelouch, Clint Eastwood and many others. After his songs appeared in Jacques Demy's films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort, Legrand became famous worldwide. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg was a sung-through musical where all the dialogue was set to music, a revolutionary concept.

Hollywood soon became interested in Legrand after Parapluies, bombarding him with requests to compose music for films. Having begun to collaborate with Hollywood, Legrand continued to work there for many years. Currently, he divides his time between America and France.

[edit] Filmography

• Beau fixe (short) (1953)
• Lovers Net (Les amants du Tage) (1954)
• Charmants garçons (1958)
• L'Americain se détend (TV) (1958)
• Le Triporteur (1958)
• L'Amérique insolite (documentary) (1958)
• Lola (1960)
• Terrain vague (co-composer) (1960)
• A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme) (1960)
• The French Game (Le cœur battant) (1960)
• Les Portes claquent (1960)
• Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) (1961)
• The 7 Capital Sins (Les Sept péchés capitaux) (co-composer) (1961)
• The Winner (Un cœur gros comme ça) (documentary) (1961)
• Retour a New York (documentary) (1962)
• Comme un poisson dans l'eau (1962)
• Eva (1962)
• Une grosse tete (1962)
• My Life to Live (Vivre sa Vie: Film en Douze Tableaux) (1962)
• Bay of Angels (La baie des anges) (1962)
• L'Amerique lunaire (documentary) (1962)
• Histoire d'un petit garcon devenu grand (1962)
• Le joli mai (1962)
• Illuminations (documentary) (1963)
• Le grand escroc (1963)
• L'Empire de la nuit (1963)
• Love Is A Ball (1963)
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)
• A Ravishing Idiot (Une ravissante idiote) (1964)
• Band of Outsiders (Bande à part) (1964)
• Fascinante amazonie (1964)
• Les amoureux du France (documentary) (1964)
• La Douceur du village (documentary) (1964)
• A Matter of Resistance (La vie de château) (1965)
• Quand passent les faisans (1965)
• Tender Scoundrel (Tendre voyou) (1965)
• Monnaie de singe (1965)
• The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (1966)
• Who Are You, Polly Magoo? (Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?) (1966)
• The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1966)
• L'an 2000 (1966)
• Gold and Lead (L'or et le plomb) (1966)
• A Matter of Innocence (Also: Pretty Polly) (1967)
• L'homme a la Buick (1967)
• How to Save a Marriage -- And Ruin Your Life (1967)
• Michel's Mixed Up Musical Bird (TV) (1968)
• Sweet November (1968)
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
• The Swimming Pool (La piscine) (1968)
• Play Dirty (1968)
• Ice Station Zebra (1968)
• Castle Keep (1969)
• The Happy Ending (1969)
• Picasso Summer (1969)
• Pieces of Dreams (1969)
• The Go-Between (1970)
• The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)
• Wuthering Heights (1970)
• The Swashbuckler (Les mariés de l'an II) (1970)
• Donkey Skin (Peau d'Âne) (1970)
• The Lady in the Car With Glasses And a Gun (La dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil) (1970)
• Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (1970)
• Le Mans (1970)
• Brian's Song (TV) (1970)
• Summer of '42 (1971)
• La vieille Fille (1971)
• A Time for Loving (Also: Paris Was Made For Lovers) (1971)
• Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
• Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
• Les feux de la Chandeleur (1972)
• The Impossible Object (1972)
• One Is a Lonely Number (1972)
• The Adventures of Don Quixote (TV) (1973)
• A Doll's House (1973)
• The Nelson Affair (Also: A Bequest to the Nation) (1973)
• The Outside Man (Un homme est mort) (1973)
• The Hostages (Le gang des otages) (1973)
• Forty Carats (1973)
• Cops and Robbers (1973)
• Breezy (1973)
• The Three Musketeers (1973)
• Our Time (1974)
• The Four Musketeers (1974)
• It's Good To Be Alive (TV) (1974)
• The Most Important Event Since Man Walked on the Moon (L'Evenement le plus important depuis que l'homme marche sur la lune) (1974)
• The Savage (Le sauvage) (1975)
• Gulliver's Travels (1975)
• F for Fake (1975)
• Sheila Levine is Dead -- and Living in New York (1975)
• Cage Without a Key (TV) (1975)
• Gable and Lombard (1976)
• Ode to Billy Joe (1976)
• Le voyage de noces (1976)
• The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (La flute a six schtroumpfs) (animated) (1976)
• The Other Side of Midnight (1977)
• Routes to the South (Les routes du sud) (1978)
• Mon premier amour (1978)
• Lady Oscar (1978)
• The Fabulous Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (animated) (1979)
• Atlantic City (1980)
• The Hunter (1980)
• The Mountain Men (1980)
• Les Uns et les Autres (a.k.a. Bolero) (1980)
• Hinotori (co-composer) (1980)
• Falling in Love Again (1981)
• What Makes David Run? (Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David?) (1981)
• La cadeau (1981)
• Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1982)
• La revanche des humanoides (animated) (1982)
• Best Friends (1982)
• A Woman Named Golda (TV) (1982)
• The Gift (1982)
• Yentl (1983)
• Never Say Never Again (1983)
• A Love in Germany (Un amour en Allemagne) (1983)
• Secret Places (1984)
• The Jesse Owens Story (TV) (1984)
• Micki and Maude (1984)
• Love Songs (Paroles et musique) (1984)
• Palace (1985)
• Partir revenir (1985)
• Train to Hell (Train d'enfer) (1985)
• Parking (1985)
• Promises to Keep (TV) (1985)
• Crossings (miniseries) (1986)
• As Summers Die (cable) (1986)
• Sins (miniseries) (1986)
• Casanova (TV) (1987)
• Social Club (Club de recontres) (1987)
• Spirale (1987)
• Switching Channels (1988)
• Three Seats For the 26th (Trois places pour le 26) (1988)
• Five Days in June (Cinq jours en juin) (1989)
• Escape from Paradise (Fuga dal Paradiso) (1990)
• Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (miniseries) (1990)
• Dingo (1991)
• Gaspard et Robinson (1991)
• The Burning Shore (1991)
• (La Montagna dei Diamanti) (miniseries) (1991)
• The Pickle (1993)
• Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994)
• Les enfants de lumiere (1995)
• The Ring (miniseries) (1995)
• Aaron's Magic Village (animated) (1997)

[edit] Awards

Rarely has a musician received as many awards as Michel Legrand. He has received 3 Oscars, 5 Grammys and numerous other awards and nominations. The following are some of the awards and nominations with which Legrand's works have been honored:

[edit] Academy Award nominations

• Music score, substantially original: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1965)
• Original score for a motion picture, not a musical: The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
• Score of a musical picture, original or adaptation: The Young Girls of Rochefort (1968)
• Original dramatic score: Summer of '42 (1971) (won)
• Original song score or adaptation score: Yentl (1983)
• Original song:
  • "I Will Wait for You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1965)
  • "The Windmills of Your Mind" (won) from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  • "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending (1969)
  • "Pieces of Dreams" from Pieces of Dreams (1970)
  • "How do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends (1982)
  • "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "The Way He Makes Me Feel" both from Yentl (1983)

[edit] Golden Globe nominations

• Original Score:
  • The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  • The Happy Ending (1969)
  • Wuthering Heights (1970)
  • Le Mans (1971)
  • Summer of '42 (1971)
  • Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
  • Breezy (1973)
  • Yentl (1983)
• Original Song:
  • "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) (won)
  • "What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending (1969)
  • "Pieces of Dreams" from Pieces of Dreams (1970)
  • "Breezy's Song" from Breezy (1973)
  • "Yesterday's Dreams" from Falling in love again (1980)
  • "The Way He Makes Me Feel" from Yentl (1983)

[edit] Grammy Award nominations

• Best arrangement accompanying vocalist: Happy Ending (Sarah Vaughn) (1972)
• Song of the year: "The Summer Knows" from Summer of '42 (1972)
• Best instrumental composition: "Brian's Song" [TV] (1972)
• Best original score written for a motion picture or television special: The Three Musketeers (1974)
• Best instrumental composition: "Images" (1982)
• Best jazz performance by a Big Band: "Images" (1982)
• Best original score album: Yentl (1983)
• Best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocals: Yentl (Barbra Streisand) (1983)

[edit] Theatre nominations

• Tony Award for Best Original Score: Amour (2002)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Original Score: Amour (2002)

[edit] Emmy Award nominations

• Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore): "A Woman Called Golda" [TV] (1982)

[edit] Fennecus nominations

• Song score, original or adaptation: Yentl (1983)
• Original song: "The Way He Makes Me Feel" from Yentl (1983)

[edit] Apex nominations

• Original score, comedy: Best Friends (1982)
• Original song, drama: "The Way He Makes Me Feel" from Yentl (1983)
• Original song score/adaptation/compilation, drama: Yentl (1983)

[edit] Australian Film Institute Award nominations

• Best Original Music Score: Dingo (1991)

[edit] Prix Moliere Award (France)

• Best musical: Le Passe-Muraille

[edit] ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)

• Henry Mancini Award for Le Passe-Muraille

[edit] Golden Eagle Award

• Outstanding contribution to world cinema (2002)

[edit] External links

• Michel Legrand at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography of Michel Legrand, from Radio France Internationale

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Unofficial films Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass "Casino Royale" | Lani Hall "Never Say Never Again"