Michel Legrand

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.