In Memoriam of Cubby Broccoli's wife Dana Broccoli 1922-2004

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2004-09-06

Dana Broccoli, the widow of producer Albert R. Broccoli (Cubby) and the president of the company that owns the film rights to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, died at her home in Beverly Hills on 29 February 2004 aged 82. The cause was cancer, her family said.

Dana Broccoli, a novelist and theatrical producer, became president of Danjaq, the film company that Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman founded in 1961, after her husband died in 1996. Three Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan were released during Dana Broccoli's tenure; Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002).

She also was the creative force behind turning Chitty Chitty Bang Bang into a musical, for which she served as lead producer. It opened in London's West End in 2002 and is scheduled for Broadway in 2005.

When Cubby Broccoli was searching for the actor to play Bond, he asked his wife's opinion of a young Scottish actor, Sean Connery.

"I said he [Sean] is fantastic," Ms. Broccoli told The Los Angeles Times in 1978.

About Dana Broccoli:

Born Dana Natol in New York City in 1922, she studied at Cecil Clovelly's Theater Academy in Carnegie Hall where she met her first husband, Lewis Wilson, with whom she had a son, Michael.

After World War II, she and her husband joined the Pasadena Playhouse. After they divorced, she concentrated on her writing.

She met Cubby Broccoli when she gave him an idea for a movie. "He never bought the story, but six weeks later we were married," she told the LA Times in 1978. In 1959, shortly after the marriage, they moved to London.

Dana Broccoli wrote two novels, "Scenario for Murder" and "Florinda." Of the latter, a musical was made, "La Cava". It opened in London's West End in 2000.

She is survived by four children - Michael G. Wilson, Tony Broccoli, Tina Broccoli and Barbara Broccoli - and five grandchildren.

Photo on top:
Barbara Broccoli with her parents, Albert R. Broccoli and Dana Broccoli.

For more info about Dana Broccoli, read the obituary for Independent written by FSWL reader Robert Sellers.

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In Memoriam of Cubby Broccoli's wife Dana Broccoli 1922-2004

About Dana Broccoli:

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