Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli (who died this day - June 27 - in 1996) was an American film producer best remembered for bringing James Bond to the big screen. In all, Broccoli was involved in 17 Bond films from the very first Dr No in 1962 to his last involvement as Consulting Producer with 007 with Goldeneye in 1995

Born in Queens, New York in 1909, Cubby worked in a pharmacy, as a coffin-maker and selling Christmas trees. He later became a talent agent (representing stars such as Robert Wagner and Lana Turner) before making a name for himself as a producer in the movie business in the 1950s. Having worked with the likes of Howard Hughes and Irving Allen, Cubby moved to London but eventually went bust after The Trials of Oscar Wilde flopped at the box office in 1960.

Having long dreamed of bringing Ian Fleming's 007 secret agent to the screen, Broccoli and Harry Saltzman (who owned the screen rights to the books) formed Eon Productions. Casting the relatively unknown Sean Connery as James Bond, they made Dr No in 1962 on a million dollar budget and the rest as they say is history.

Broccoli's legacy with James Bond continues as his stepson, Michael G. Wilson and daughter Barbara now run the mulit-million dollar industry that has grown up around the Bond movies.

To celebrate the life and career of the inspirational film producer and proud family man, here is a selection of quotes by and about Cubby Broccoli ...

Quotes by Cubby ... 

On the Bond movie formula - "A virile and resourceful hero, exotic locations, the ingenious apparatus of espionage and sex on a fairly sophisticated level."

Dr No - "It was with this film that the James Bond formula and style were perfected."

"My favourite films are From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me. I can’t say there is a single one I’d want to re-do, although there are parts of The Man With The Golden Gun I’d change."

"I honestly felt a responsibility toward all the Bond fans out there. I know they look forward to these pictures. And so I’m going to go on delivering then as long as I can. Also, it’s a challenge, which I enjoy. We try to make each picture more exciting than the one before, to take Bond somewhere he hasn’t already been."

"Bond is my life. I get ideas for the films all the time. I scribble down ideas on the backs of old envelopes. Even when I’m on the toilet and get a Bond idea I grab a piece of toilet paper and write it down. And that idea, though it began on a piece of toilet paper, can cost millions of dollars to put on the screen."

On the 007 leading men after Sean Connery - "Like comparing a still photograph with a film."

"Bond’s ladies must stay in the background and must give the impression of being experienced with men. They must be strong but elegant. ‘Something’ must happen when you look at them."

"It is not necessary to use established actresses in these films. It’s entertainment after all, not Macbeth."

"Nudity would destroy Bond’s career. His image must be clean cut. We can’t risk offending his massive family audience in any way."

"I love looking at the old Bond films. Maybe it's purely out of reminiscence, the nostalgic things you think about. But there were some very good films made and I think that the public has enjoyed them, too."

"That we were lucky to stumble upon Ian Fleming and Bond, was a bit of a good fortune. The rest was all hard work."

"The Russians did invite me to make a film there. But when I said I’d like to make a Bond movie there, they said, 'We’re not ready for that yet!' "


Quotes about Cubby ...

"The production team of Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had pretty well invented a whole new genre - the big, glossy, no-expense-spared international thriller. A heady mix of beautiful locations, beautiful people and beautiful cars, whipped up into a confection of non-stop action and sex. There is no depth to a Bond movie; it is a world of goodies and baddies, a world where death is played for laughs. The films do not nourish the soul. They do not set out to. They are pure entertainment. Pure cinema."
Charlie Higson in The Spectator (2006)

"He was remarkable man, a fantastic producer, and if it wasn’t for Cubby there wouldn’t be Bond films today. He is the main reason for them. When I arrived he came onto the set to welcome me. Normally one doesn’t meet a producer."
Desmond Llewelyn - ‘Q’ in the Bond films

"Producer Albert R. Broccoli seems to know exactly how to stretch his formula like a cat’s cradle in his hands."
Sheila Benson in The Los Angeles Times

"Producer Albert R. Broccoli, the major-domo of the James Bond movies, is the proverbial Jewish mother of cinema: he is not about to let anyone go away hungry. In Moonraker, the eleventh 007 opus, Broccoli serves the audience a space-shuttle hijacking, a jumbo-jet explosion and a protracted wrestling match between two men who are falling from the sky without parachutes. All this happens before the opening credits. From there, it's on to gondola chases in Venice, funicular crashes in Rio and laser-gun shootouts and lovemaking in deep space. Meanwhile, beautiful women come and go .... When Broccoli lays out a feast, he makes sure that there is at least one course for every conceivable taste."
Frank Rich in Time magazine (1979)

"Albert (Cubby) Broccoli, the constant force behind the pictures. Directors come and go, but Broccoli remains, lavishing time, attention and megabucks on the formula adventures."
Rita Kempley in The Washington Post (1987)

"Producer ‘Cubby’ Broccoli took Fleming’s ingredients and turned them into his own dish."
James Taylor in The Times (2007)

"Indiana Jones, Arnie, Derek Flint et al owe a major debt to Bond, James Bond. Or perhaps Broccoli, Cubby Broccoli."
Michael Cooper on Alternative007.co.uk (2006)


For more great quotations, inspirational thoughts and famous sayings, go to A2Z of Quotes
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Project X: is Jeffery Deaver the right writer for the new James Bond novel?

Seven actors have played James Bond on the big screen. (00)Seven actors - if you care not to ignore David Niven in the often ignored 1967 film version of Casino Royale - in 48 years is a low turnover rate. That is nothing compared to five official Bond authors (not counting Young Bond and Moneypenny Diaries spin-offs) in 57 years. That works out to one writer for every 12 years. However, 2011 will see a sixth author publish an official 007 novel … and the second new name to grace a Bond hardcover in three years. So why the rush?

Ian Fleming Publications recently announced that it has “chosen international bestselling thriller writer, Jeffery Deaver, to write a new James Bond book. The novel, currently known as Project X, will be published on May 28, 2011 - for Ian Fleming’s birthday.” Well, that clears up the rush to appoint and, perhaps anoint, a new Bond scribe.

With just the one Bond novel - Devil May Care - to his name, the previous Bond author Sebastian Faulks can lay ignominious claim to being the George Lazenby of 007 novelists. A one-hit wonder. Or, in Faulks’ case, a one-bestseller wonder. To be fair to Faulks he was brought on board as a one-off to write ‘as Ian Fleming’ in tribute of the original author’s centenary in 2008

Writing under his own name and in his own style, Chicago-born Deaver had this to say on his enthronement to the Ian Fleming dynasty, “I can’t describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series.”

The former journalist, folk singer and attorney went on to add, “I began reading them when I was about nine or ten, ignorant of the Cold War politics they explored but enthralled by their sense of adventure and derring-do. I continued to read and reread them, which was fortunate because as a teen and adult I found, of course, nuances, that were invisible to a child.”

Welsh-born thriller writer Ken Follett (born this day in 1949) paid tribute to one of his great literary inspirations and his greatest character ...

"Ian Fleming is the best. The spy novel is about a hundred years old and it really peaked with Ian Fleming - he was the greatest writer of the mainstream, popular spy story. Fleming said that he had been influenced by John Buchan … but of course, Fleming brought a completely different atmosphere to the genre. It was much more liberated, much more sensual. Buchan’s stories were rather like schoolboy heroics, and James Bond was a real grown up."

"It was often said about James Bond that he exploited women because he was promiscuous, but I thought he was a romantic. He really cherished women and he often risked his life to protect them."


Quote of the Day originally posted on A2Z of Quotes

Polish-born actress Izabella Scorupco (born this day in 1970) played Bond Girl Natalya Simonova in Goldeneye and made a great impression in the iconic supporting role to 007 ...


"Bond has a girlfriend with advanced computer skills (Izabella Scorupco, a deep-voiced model who looks as good as Mr. Brosnan, which is saying a lot)."




Quote of the Day originally posted on A2Z of Quotes

001. "A sort of rich man's Fu Manchu, he is one of the less forgettable characters in modern fiction."

002. "The chief heavy, an insane pelagiophilic ex-undertaker endearingly bent on sparking off the Third World War, lacks the presence of Goldfinger or Mr. Big."

003. "A female unparalleled for awfulness."

004. "He, like many another Bond villain, seems to have the makings of a frustrated host: It must be galling to have the most elaborate secret hideaways on earth, and no way to show off."

005. "A scar-faced capitalist villain with greed as a motive hardly makes a compelling Bond villain."

006. "The seriousness of his demeanour was matched only by the sheer stupidity of his scheme and the obvious criminality in his choice of costumier."

007. "Possibly the first psycho killer in British fiction."

American thriller writer Robert Ludlum (born, or maybe Bourne, today in 1927) is most famous for his novels involving amnesaic secret agent Jason Bourne, who has often been likened to James Bond ...




Quote of the Day originally posted on A2Z of Quotes

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the sole-erosion produced by high gambling - a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension - becomes unbearable, and the senses awake and revolt from it." 
Opening lines from the original Ian Fleming novel Casino Royale (1953) 
"Casino Royale when it was written by Fleming involved a Chemin de Fer game in the South of France and that was a big stakes game in those days. Today the big stakes game is Texas Hold 'em. It's not unreasonable for ten, twenty million dollar pots to be seen. So, when we came to think about what the game would be, Chemin de Fer didn't seem appropriate but Texas Hold 'em was."
Michael G. Wilson - Bond producer (2006)

"In Ian Fleming's original novel, James Bond attempts to bankrupt Le Chiffre - a shadowy financier of international terrorism - at the baccarat table. To give the movie a modern twist, the game has been changed to poker. This is in keeping with 21st-century fashion, but the characters are still dressed for baccarat, in tailored dinner jackets. If only poker players really wore those clothes, instead of old tracksuits covered in soup."
Victoria Coren in The Guardian (2006)

"I heard 007 doesn't play baccarat anymore; now it's Hold 'em. I keep waiting for Phil Hellmuth to talk smack at the table right up until Bond puts one right between his eyes."
Matt Bramanti in The Houston Chronicle (2006)

"Switching the game between le Chiffre and Bond to poker is no doubt because most audiences are unacquainted with baccarat, though it could be that it reminded the producers of Burt Bacharach, who wrote the music for the 1967 Casino Royale."
Philip French in The Observer (2006)

"Royale Flush. The Bond franchise takes a gamble on a new guy and comes up aces!"
Robert Wilonsky in The Village Voice (2006)

"The latest Bond movie … in which Bond plays a high stakes Texas Hold ‘em poker game. Before seeing it I thought about how some hands might play out. Maybe Bond makes an amazing sick call with Jack high and wins … or lays down Kings against Aces pre-flop because he can see into the villain’s soul! I mean he is James Bond after all. He can dodge bullets baby! Well, Phil Hellmuth he ain’t. James Bond is nothing but a total luck-box."
 Nicky O’Donnell (2006)

"Unfortunately, the final showdown, like The Cincinnati Kid, features card combinations you wouldn’t see in a real poker game if you played every day for a thousand years ... The odds of this happening on any given hand are so astronomical that I’d have to use up the rest of Page 11 and borrow Stephen Hawking’s brain to figure it out."  
Richard Roeper in The Chicago Sun-Times (2006)

"A high-stakes poker game in which Bond must beat Le Chiffre to defeat the terrorist network - slows the pace and trivializes the present reality of terrorism: If only al Qaeda could be done in by a full house."
Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal (2006)

"What [teenagers] will make of Casino Royale - no babes, no toyland, and the poker not even online - is anyone’s guess, but the earnings of the new film will doubtless affect the look, and the casting, of the next. If Craig falters, then I guess it’s full speed ahead to Chris Rock as 007 and Borat as Blofeld."
Anthony Lane in The New Yorker (2006)

"We grant that high-stakes poker has its tension, especially if it's your hand and your multimillion-dollar stake. But dramatically there's something lacking in a movie climax that needs the hero to be holding higher cards than the villain. Luck is not fate."
Richard Corliss in Time magazine (2006)

"The villain is not the usual Blofeld-like wannabe world dominator but a financier called Le Chiffre whose milky eye weeps blood. He’s played by the amazing Dane Mads Mikkelsen, made up to bring out his liver lips and Munchian cheekbones - the clammiest actor alive. When Bond sits opposite Le Chiffre at a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro’s Casino Royale, Mikkelsen clicks his rectangular plaques as if he’s a new breed of praying mantis. He’s bloodcurdling."
David Edelstein in New York magazine (2006)

"The climactic hand sees 007’s improbable straight flush, which he smugly unveils as if he’d somehow willed this result rather than just winning the poker equivalent of the state lottery. Hell, I could defeat international terrorism getting hit by the deck like that. So could you. So could a sponge. Move Bond just a single seat to the right in that hand and all he possesses is a license to tilt."
Mike D’Angelo in Esquire magazine (2007)

"The movie spends a lot minutes, because we all know who’s gonna win ... only this time, the poker tournament goes on and on and on ... and unlike, say, the battle of wits in the similarly high stakes card game in The Sting, Bond here finally wins his tournament by flashing a straight flush. A straight flush!  Dude, anybody can win with a straight flush! Winning with a pair of twos ... now THAT would have been superspy impressive!"
Andrew Osborne on Nerve.com (2008)

"When he meets the people on whom he is supposed to be spying, his first instinct is to beat them humiliatingly at chemin de fer, poker or ping-pong, and then go to bed with their wives. His ‘secret’ codename, 007, is known to all self-respecting villains."
Daily Telegraph (2008)
On the after-hours poker games on the 'Casino Royale' set - “Never play poker against actors. After all it’s their job to be able to create a credible poker face. And believe me they can. I lost every game I played against Daniel [Craig]!”
Martin Campbell - director of Casino Royale (2006)

Reviewing the Casino Royale Poker Chips set - "I hand these to my lovely wife to look at and the first words out of her mouth are: 'Where is the picture of Daniel Craig naked?' So...I suppose you can't please them all. That said, these are some pretty damn nice chips ... and you are that much closer to being 'Bond' than you were five minutes ago."
John Tucker on PokerChipReviews.com (2006) 

"As a poker film, Casino Royale is better than Rounders, miles better than Maverick, but not as good as The Cincinnati Kid. Nothing is as good as The Cincinnati Kid … I also loved the break during the game where James Bond goes upstairs, kills a couple of Ugandan hostage takers, showers off the blood, changes his shirt and comes back down to play. That kind of thing always happens in the tournament breaks at Walsall."
 Victoria Coren in The Guardian (2006)