​Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest and emigrated to Paris in 1933 where he became a close collaborator with Jacques Prévert.  Together, they set some 80 of Prévert’s songs to music, including “Les Feuilles Mortes.” Kosma had originally composed the melody in 1945 for a for a “pas de deux” in a 1945 ballet “Rendez-vous” by choreographer Roland Petit. Kosma then borrowed that piece for a film by Marcel Carné (“Les Portes de la Nuit”) where Montand hummed and sang the song briefly.