“[He] began his musical career as an accordion player and as an accompanist to the renowned French chanteuse Edith Piaf. He was primarily a songwriter before being introduced to filmmaker Claude Lelouch, who invited Mr. Lai to compose a score for A Man and a Woman — and for another 35 films on which they worked together.” In the U.S., his best-known work by far is the music for the 1970 Ryan O’Neal-Ali MacGraw movie Love Story.