Christiane Legrand

Sound

Christiane Legrand

Born 1930-08-21 · Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, France

Christiane Legrand (21 August 1930 – 1 November 2011) was a French soprano. Legrand was born in Paris. Her father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as Irma la douce, and her mother was Marcelle Ter-Mikaëlian (sister of conductor Jacques Hélian), who married Legrand in 1929. Her maternal grandfather was of Armenian descent and considered a member of the bourgeoisie. Legrand studied piano and classical music from the time she was four. Jazz critic and composer André Hodeir discovered her in 1957, and she became the lead singer in the most notable French jazz vocal groups of the 1960s, including Les Double Six. Legrand was the original lead soprano of The Swingle Singers and was the vocalist who dubbed the part of Madame Emery in Les parapluies de Cherbourg, the music for which was composed by her brother Michel Legrand. She also sang the part of Judith in his Les demoiselles de Rochefort. Her commercial recordings of music for the concert hall included a recording of Laborinthus II of Luciano Berio. Legrand sang the lead role on the French Disney recording of the score to the film Mary Poppins (1964) and lent her talents to numerous other film projects. Legrand was the featured soprano on the track "Fires (Which Burn Brightly)" on the 1973 Procol Harum album Grand Hotel. Her niece Victoria Legrand is a member of the American indie pop group Beach House. Another niece, Eugénie Angot, is an equestrian. Source: Article "Christiane Legrand" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg poster
7.4

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.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

1964

The Young Girls of Rochefort poster
7.7

In the seaside town of Rochefort, twin sisters Delphine and Solange dream of love and artistic fulfillment beyond their quiet lives. As sailors, artists, musicians, and chance visitors pass through town during a weekend fair, a web of near-misses and romantic longing brings ideal partners tantalizingly close—without their realizing it.

The Young Girls of Rochefort

1967

Adieu Philippine poster
6.8

Michel is a young technician in the fledgling TV industry and is due for military service in two months at the time of the Algerian War. Juliette and Liliane are inseparable best friends, and aspiring actresses, who hang around outside the TV studio. Michel invites them in to watch, flirts with them both, and dates them separately and together. When Michel goes on a holiday to Corsica, just before he is drafted, the girls follow.

Adieu Philippine

1962

Joe and the Sleeping Beauty poster
8.0

The Queen Bee, Honeyflower is placed under a spell by One Sting Maude, a witch from the tsetse family, jealous of the Queen Bee’s beauty. Bzz, the Bee-guide enlists the help of Joe to help save the Queen. He is given an injection to shrink him to the size of an insect and enters the parlor of the sleeping beauty, Honeyflower.

Joe and the Sleeping Beauty

1973

Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg poster
8.0

Television documentary about the making of Jacques Demy's 1964 film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg".

Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

2008