Albert R. Broccoli
| Albert R. Broccoli | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 5 1909 |
| Died | June 27 1996 (aged 87) Beverly Hills, California |
| Occupation | |
| Spouse | Gloria Blondell (1940-1945) (divorced) Nedra Clark (1951-1956) (her death) |
Albert Romolo Broccoli,
Early life
Broccoli was born into an Italian-American family on
During his early period in Hollywood, Broccoli may have taken part in a barroom brawl which took the life of comedian Ted Healy. According to E. J. Fleming's book The Fixers, Broccoli, his cousin, gangster Pasquale 'Pat' DiCicco, and film star Wallace Beery fought with Healy and beat him to death. Fleming asserts that MGM executives Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling, in an attempt to save the reputation of their star Beery, fabricated a story about college students attacking Healy.[2]
Broccoli joined the United States Navy following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and afterward worked several years as an agent at the Famous Artists Agency. He returned to production crew work again as an Assistant Director, a Second unit Director, then Director and Producer doing several films a year and continually working his way up the ladder while establishing many key personal contacts with Hollywood luminaries and movie moguls.
London subsidy and the origins of Bond
At the beginning of the 1950s Broccoli moved once more, this time to London, where the British government provided subsidies to film productions made in the UK with British casts and crews.
When Broccoli became interested in bringing Ian Fleming's James Bond character into features, he discovered that the rights were already tied up by another American, Harry Saltzman, who had long wanted to break into the inside in film, and who had produced several stage plays and films with only modest success. When the two were introduced by a mutual friend, screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz, Saltzman refused to sell the rights but agreed to partner with Broccoli and co-produce the films, which led to the creation of the production company EON Productions and its parent (holding) company Danjaq, LLC, named after the two wives' first names—Dana and Jacquiline.
Saltzman and Broccoli produced the first Bond movie, Dr. No, in 1962. Their second, From Russia With Love, was a breakout success and from then on, the films grew in cost, action, and ambition. With larger casts, more difficult stunts and special effects, and a continued dependence on exotic locations, the franchise became essentially a full-time job. Broccoli made one notable attempt at a non-Bond film, an adaptation of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968, and due to legal wrangling over the rights to story elements, ceded producer credit on Thunderball to Kevin McClory. Nonetheless, by the mid-1960s Broccoli had put nearly all of his energies into the Bond series. Saltzman's interests continued to range apart from the series, including production of a loose trilogy of spy films based on Len Deighton's Harry Palmer, a character who operates in a parallel universe to Bond, with all the danger but none of the glamour and gadgets. Saltzman and Broccoli had differences over Saltzman's outside commitments, but in the end it was Saltzman who withdrew from Danjaq and EON after a series of financial mishaps. While Saltzman's departure brought the franchise a step closer to corporate control, Broccoli lost relatively little independence or prestige in the bargain. From then until his death, the racy credits sequence to every EON Bond film would begin with the words "Albert R. Broccoli Presents". Although from the 1970s onward the films became lighter in tone and looser in plot, at times less successful with critics, the series distinguished itself in production values and continued to appeal to audiences.
Family life
Broccoli married three times. In 1940, at the age of 31, he married actress Gloria Blondell (the younger sister of Joan Blondell); they later divorced amicably in 1945 without having had children. In 1951, he married Nedra Clark, and the couple were told they had fertility problems and would never have children. They adopted a son Tony Broccoli, after which Nedra became pregnant. She died in 1958, soon after giving birth to their daughter, Tina Broccoli-Brewster, who today produces films under the name Tina Banta. At the time of Nedra's illness, while nursing her in America, Cubby became convinced that Bond would make a good movie series, and set up a meeting between Ian Fleming and his partner in London.
In the very late 1950s, Broccoli married actress and novelist Dana Wilson (née Dana Natol). They had a daughter together, Barbara Broccoli, and Cubby became a mentor to teenage son, Michael G. Wilson. Broccoli insisted on keeping his family close to him when possible. Consequently the children grew up around the Bond film sets, and his wife's influence on various production decisions is alluded to in many informal accounts.
Michael Wilson made uncredited cameo appearances in Bond films from his teens onward, and in adulthood worked his way up through the production company to co-write and co-produce. Barbara Broccoli, in her turn, served in several capacities under her father's tutelage from the 1980s on. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have co-produced the films since the elder Broccoli's death.
Dana Broccoli died of cancer in 2004, aged 82.
Later life and honors
In 1981 he was honored with The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work in film and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the award was presented by the current James Bond at that time, Roger Moore
A thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast, Albert Broccoli owned Brocco, who won the 1993 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park at Arcadia, California.
Death
Albert R "Cubby" Broccoli died at his home in
References
- ^ a b c Albert R. Broccoli at IMDb.com
- ^ Fleming, E.J., The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine, MacFarland & Co., 2004, ISBN 0786420278
External links
| The James Bond Crew |
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"Official" (EON Productions) directors |
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