Michel Magne

Michel Magne (20 March 1930 in Lisieux, Calvados, France – 19 December 1984 in Cergy-Pontoise, Val-d'Oise) was a French film and experimental music composer. He was the fifth child in a family of eight. As young as age five, he was intrigued by his parents' piano. The Lisieux cathedral’s organist taught him to play keyboards, and soon he played the harmonium during Sunday services. At age nine he found his parents' Wagner discs, and thereafter would often quote Wagner in his works. He then studied music at the French: Caen Conservatory, in Caen, France. By age 16 he had written an oratorio and a piano concerto. In 1946, he left Caen to attend the Paris Conservatory, where he had lessons by Simone Plé-Caussade and Olivier Messiaen. He was nominated in 1962 for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for adapting the Jackie Gleason score to film Gigot. He also scored Barbarella and a series of OSS 117 films. In 1962, he released the studio album Tropical Fantasy. Magne wrote some songs with lyrics by Françoise Sagan for Juliette Gréco and provided orchestral accompaniment. In 1962, he purchased the Château d'Hérouville, near Pontoise, and converted it into a residential recordi…

Michel Magne's films on Charmy Movies →