Michel Legrand has not won his first Oscar and has already been compared to Gershwin. In 1964, “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”, for which he wrote the music, had just won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and he was already working on his next big success, “Les Demoiselles de Rochefort”. “This will be done in the purest tradition: the songs will be sung by the actors, but the story will have nothing traditional,” the composer then promised Paris Match. With his boundless energy, he also has America in mind.
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Michel Legrand has already had some record successes there. “Adopted by America, he can do whatever he wants there. We ask for it everywhere. For the Americans, this frail-looking Frenchman will immediately be “big Mike”, the great Michel, the magician of the 'New French sound'”, writes Match. This time he wants to conquer Hollywood. He would cross the Atlantic again two years later… to return with three Oscars and five Grammys.
Michel Legrand passed away on Saturday January 26. He was 86 years old. In “Once upon a time Michel Legrand”, film buff David Hertzog Dessites looks back on his career.
Here is the report devoted to Michel Legrand in Paris Match in 1964…
Paris Match n°809, October 10, 1964
“Big Mike” is the French Gershwin
By Pierre Grobel
His name is Michel Legrand. Work is recreation for him. He makes cinema sing. Yesterday: “The Parapl…
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