Catherine Lara

Catherine Lara

Born: May 29, 1945
in Poissy, Yvelines, France
Catherine Lara (born Catherine Bodet; 29 May 1945) is a French violinist, composer, singer, and author. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has established herself as an icon in French pop/rock music as well as the neo-classical genre. She has released 26 studio albums, contributed music to numerous television and film productions, and helped stage and produce many theatrical works. Lara is openly lesbian.

Catherine Bodet was born in Poissy, near Paris, the daughter of a doctor and pianist father, and a violinist mother. Catherine started playing the violin at age 5 and entered the Conservatoire de Versailles at age 11, obtaining first prize in 1958. She went on to get the 2nd prize for violin at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1965 and the first prize for chamber music in 1966.

Leaving the Conservatoire, Lara started her own chamber orchestra, Les Musiciens de Paris, in which she played first violin. She then created the Lara Quartet, which accompanied singers on stage, including Claude Nougaro, Nana Mouskouri, Mireille Mathieu, and Jean Ferrat. She played on recordings by Françoise Hardy, Maxime Le Forestier, Georgette Lemaire, Jean Sablon, and Juliette Gréco, as well as writing two songs for Barbara's 1972 album Amours incestueuses. In 1969, Lara opened for Canadian musician Gilles Vigneault at the Olympia music hall in Paris.

Lara's first original album, Ad libitum, was released in 1972, and in 1975 she composed the score to the French film Docteur Françoise Gailland. In 1977, William Sheller dedicated a song to her on his album Symphoman, and she played violin on the recording. In 1979, she contributed to the album Contes de traviole by Richard Gotainer. Lara's 1974 folk-tinged album La craie dans l'encrier included vocal contributions from Gilbert Montagné.

Since her 1979 album Coup d'feel, Lara's songs have been more influenced by rock music. This album, recorded in the town of Morin-Heights in Quebec, also saw the beginning of Lara's collaboration with French-Canadian lyricist Luc Plamondon. Jean-Pierre Ferland also contributed to the album. In the early 80s she wrote scores for several films such as The Rebel (1980), Men Prefer Fat Girls (1981), and La Triche (1984), and she wrote the music for the musical show Revue et corrigée, created by her friends Bob Decout and Annie Girardot in 1982.

The 1983 album La Rockeuse de diamant proved a major success, with the eponymous single and the daring song "Autonome", in which Lara openly reveals her sexual preferences with the words "...for a long time I thought what others thought, ...I lived as if I was someone else...for a long time I knew parallel loves...until the day when, autonomous, autonomous, free to love a woman or a man...". This made Lara one of the first French celebrities to come out as openly gay. During an interview with Michel Denisot on the show Mon Zénith à moi, when asked what she looks for first in a man, she stated "His wife". Although she did not publicize it at the time, Lara dated actress Muriel Robin from 1990 to 1995. ...

Source: Article "Catherine Lara" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Catherine Lara...

Homos in France
Title: Homos in France
Character: Self
Released: May 16, 2023
Type: Movie
Homosexuals are more visible in the media, but homophobic acts continue to increase. Political and cultural figures are coming out, but insults, physical violence and cyber harassment are claiming more victims. While society is becoming more accepting of homosexuality, discovering oneself, growing up and asserting oneself as a homosexual is still a unique and lonely journey. Homos en France is the film that tells the intimate story of being lesbian, gay, bi or pan in France today, whatever your background. Through the testimonies of anonymous people or celebrities, the decoding of the great stages of self-discovery, the re-reading of powerful images, of homosexual pride, but also of the more or less conscious homophobia of our popular culture, the film shows the incredible battle that has already been fought but is still unfinished. The struggle to be oneself and to live like others.
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Title: Un dimanche à la campagne
Character: Self
Released: October 23, 2022
Type: TV
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Les Enfoirés 2022 - Un air d'Enfoirés
Title: Les Enfoirés 2022 - Un air d'Enfoirés
Released: March 4, 2022
Type: Movie
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I Love You Coiffure
Title: I Love You Coiffure
Character: Nicole (segment "L'Addition")
Released: December 21, 2020
Type: Movie
Liliane and Maud are twin sisters. The first is a modest provincial hairdresser while the second leads the great life in Paris. They both fight over their mother's custody.
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Johnny Hallyday : Olympia 2000 - Les Duos
Title: Johnny Hallyday : Olympia 2000 - Les Duos
Released: December 6, 2019
Type: Movie
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Johnny Hallyday - Un soir à l'Olympia
Title: Johnny Hallyday - Un soir à l'Olympia
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 1, 2019
Type: Movie
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Title: The Masked Singer France
Character: Lémurien
Released: November 8, 2019
Type: TV
Twelve celebrities are masked under spectacular costumes, with their identity hidden. They compete by singing their own versions of songs, and the judges and audience must guess who is behind each mask!
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Title: Capitaine Marleau
Character: Catherine Lara
Released: September 15, 2015
Type: TV
Beneath her eccentric appearance, Captain Marleau is a formidable detective. Her Sherlock Holmes deerstalker cap, her character, her unusual appearance, her humor, her unpredictable behavior--Captain Marleau is not your average gendarme. She never rushes an investigation; she becomes the investigation and relentlessly pursues the suspects.
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Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
Title: Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
Released: December 13, 2014
Type: Movie
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Les Enfoirés 2010 - Les Enfoirés... la Crise de Nerfs
Title: Les Enfoirés 2010 - Les Enfoirés... la Crise de Nerfs
Released: March 12, 2010
Type: Movie
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Title: En direct de l'univers
Character: Self
Released: September 19, 2009
Type: TV
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Les Enfoirés 2008 - Les secrets des Enfoirés
Title: Les Enfoirés 2008 - Les secrets des Enfoirés
Released: March 7, 2008
Type: Movie
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Title: Les années bonheur
Character: Self
Released: December 16, 2006
Type: TV
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Title: La Boîte à musique
Character: Self
Released: July 14, 2006
Type: TV
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Les Enfoirés, 15 ans d'Enfoirés
Title: Les Enfoirés, 15 ans d'Enfoirés
Released: November 25, 2005
Type: Movie
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Les Enfoirés 2002 - Tous dans le même bateau
Title: Les Enfoirés 2002 - Tous dans le même bateau
Released: February 22, 2002
Type: Movie
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Title: Star Academy
Character: Self
Released: October 20, 2001
Type: TV
Star Academy is a French reality television show produced by the Dutch company Endemol. It consists of a contest of young singers. It spawned an equally successful show in Quebec called Star Académie. It is broadcast on TF1. At the end of each season, selected contestants would go on tour around France, Morocco, Switzerland, Belgium, Tunisia, and other French-speaking countries.
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Title: Vivement dimanche
Character: Self
Released: September 20, 1998
Type: TV
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Les Enfoirés 1998 - Enfoirés en cœur
Title: Les Enfoirés 1998 - Enfoirés en cœur
Released: February 7, 1998
Type: Movie
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Les Enfoirés 1994 - Les Enfoirés au Grand Rex
Title: Les Enfoirés 1994 - Les Enfoirés au Grand Rex
Released: February 5, 1994
Type: Movie
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Title: Nulle part ailleurs
Character: Self
Released: August 31, 1987
Type: TV
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self (Female Artist of the Year)
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Title: La Chance aux chansons
Character: Self
Released: March 26, 1984
Type: TV
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Title: Champs-Elysées
Character: Self
Released: January 16, 1982
Type: TV
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: Système 2
Character: Self
Released: January 19, 1975
Type: TV
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Title: Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1975
Type: TV
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
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Title: Midi Première
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 1975
Type: TV
Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975 until January 1, 1982 on TF1. The program was generally broadcast between 12:15 p.m. and 12:55 p.m., then giving way to the 1:00 p.m. TV news. However, the broadcast schedule could change, depending on the guests, and the setting where the recording of the program was shot. Certain performances by artists who have become cult like the one where Ringo jostles with a demonstrator in interpretation (1977), that of Dalida with the title There is always a song with the soundtrack that does not start, twice, at the right speed (1978), Claude François and his Clodettes, who, in the provinces, are unable to join "the set" in order to interpret his song, the latter being taken by the crowd of delirious fans (summer 1977) . The group Supertramp performed there with the title "Dreamer" on March 8, 1975.
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Samedi soir
Character: Self
Released: January 9, 1971
Type: TV
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV