Michel Legrand, Oscar-winning composer of 'Windmills of Your Mind,' dies at 86

[sandensea]

Source: Washington Post

Michel Legrand, a French composer with more than 200 screen credits, notably the jazzy movie operas “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” and whose tunefully romantic music for “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Summer of ’42” and “Yentl” brought him Oscars, died Jan. 26 at 86.

After a run of hit-making jazz albums, including collaborations with trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane, Mr. Legrand drew international attention in 1964 with “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.”

Mr. Legrand was lured to Hollywood for the Steve McQueen-Faye Dunaway heist film “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968) and found an Oscar gold mine with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Their song “The Windmills of Your Mind,” with a hypnotic melody spinning like its subject, earned the composer his first Academy Award (his score was also nominated) and later became a Top 40 hit by Dusty Springfield.

Mr. Legrand returned to the Academy Awards stage for his score of “Summer of ’42” (1971).

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/michel-legrand-oscar-winning-composer-of-windmills-of-your-mind-dies-at-86/2019/01/26/14182e42-216b-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html

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Michel Legrand, 1932-2019.

[hlthe2b]

1. One of my favorite composers... so talented

RIP Your music will live on...

[dhill926]

2. oh no....

a supreme talent....

[elleng]

3. Music for Movies

[Judi Lynn]

4. His music will certainly live on a very long time, as will people's memory of, and respect for him.

Thanks for the news, sandensea.

[sandensea]

7. Couldn't have said it better, Judi.

It was my mother who acquainted me with his music, as she's been a fan of his work since, I believe, Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Still, I've always been partial to his later work ('70s/'80s). Two of my favorites:

Perfume from the End of the World, from Les Uns et les Autres (1981)

The theme from Switching Channels (1987)

Bon voyage, Michel Legrand.

[nuxvomica]

5. His music is like a refrshing light rain on a sunny spring day

He scored a wonderful, little remembered film, The Picasso Summer, and Welles' posthumous The Other Side of the Wind.

[sandensea]

8. Bravo!

The Picasso Summer may have been largely forgotten. But the theme gained fame in the '70s as 'Summer Me, Winter Me'.

[ucrdem]

6. "Sans Toi" from "Cleo from 5 - 7"

a.k.a. "Cléo de 5 à 7." Michel Legrand is at the piano as "Bob the Piano Player." He also wrote the film score which is half the fun of that great, great 1962 film. Note the candelabras attached to the piano :-D

[Paladin]

9. A great talent. RIP. (nt)

[Aristus]

10. I love his score for the Richard Lester-directed "The Three Musketeers."

He wrote an orchestral score, but included some period instruments that lent an air of historical authenticity to the film. It was the first time I ever heard the crummhorn, a delightful instrument that sounds like a dignified kazoo.

[gay texan]

11. He also did the score to "LeMans"

RIP

[DemoTex]

12. I have soared in a thermal ..

.. in a Glasflügel H-201 Standard Libelle, with "Windmills of Your Mind" running through my head. RIP Michel Legrand.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Didn't realize "Windmills of my Mind" was associated with a movie

but then I should know better. Of course "Summer of '42" has such an iconic score. Definitely a classic as was he!

R.I.P.

[Nitram]

14. Great song, wonderful lyrics.

[Blue_Tires]

15. Odd...

I saw The Thomas Crown Affair a couple weeks back for the first time and I posted a thread in the lounge about how much I disliked it... It was a great song, though.