Albert BroccoliRAlbert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, who died on 27 June, 1996, was the American film producer who brought James Bond to the screen for three decades.He worked mostly in the UK at the world famous Pinewood studios, partnered first with Irving Allen. During the 1950s their Warwick Films company became the country’s leading independent film makers.Then, in the early sixties, he was persuaded theatre director Harry Saltzman, who held the rights to the Ian Fleming spy novels, to go into business with him as EON Productions and they began work on Dr No (1962).The James Bond franchise grew from low-budget productions to command some of the biggest money in movies. Saltzman left EON after The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), by which time Bond had already become a full-time occupation for Mr Brocolli.In total he produced 17 Bond films and was also involved in the 1995 revival, GoldenEye, released the year before he died.The franchise films that have followed have all had the slogan “Albert R Broccoli Presents” at the start of the titles and his daughter Barbara Broccoli and stepson Michael G Wilson have continued his legacy by producing the films starring Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.Though Bond took up nearly all of his time and prevented him from pursuing many other projects (one of the reasons why Saltzman sold his share in EON), Broccoli did make one other film of note – the classical musical comedy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), based on another Ian Fleming book.Albert Romolo Broccoli was born on 5 April, 1909, and died 87 years later in Beverly Hills. He was married three times, most successfully to novelist Dana Wilson from the late ’50s until his death.Among several awards he won during his career, Albert R Broccoli was given the Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1982 Academy Awards, an honorary Oscar that recognised his lifetime’s contribution to film production.
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