Delerue, Georges

Delerue, Georges (1925-1992), French composer of music for more than 150 films. Born in Roubaix, France, Delerue studied composition with Darius Milhaud and started working in film music in the late 1950s, writing scores for French New Wave films such as Hiroshima mon Amour (1959, directed by Alain Resnais) and Le Mépris (1963; Contempt, Jean-Luc Godard).

In 1960 he began an association with film director François Truffaut lasting almost a quarter of a century. He worked on ten of Truffaut’s films, starting with Tirez sur le Pianiste (1960; Shoot the Piano Player) and including Jules et Jim (1961), Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent (1971; Anne and Muriel, in which he also had an acting role), and Le Dernier Métro (1980; The Last Metro). Their final collaboration was Vivement Dimanche! (Finally, Sunday) in 1983. During his 35-year career, which included work for television and the stage, Delerue was nominated for five Academy Awards (Oscars), winning one for A Little Romance (1979), directed by George Roy Hill and starring Laurence Olivier.

From the early 1980s he worked on many Hollywood assignments, including Silkwood (1983) and Biloxi Blues (1988), for director Mike Nichols; Crimes Of The Heart (1986, Bruce Beresford); Steel Magnolias (1989, Herbert Ross); and two films for Oliver Stone, Salvador (1986) and Platoon (1986). Working at an undiminished rate until the end of his life, his last assignments included music for the Spielberg-produced comedy drama Joe Versus The Volcano (1990), and three more films for Beresford: Black Robe, Mister Johnson (both 1991), and Rich in Love (1992).