Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

Today's person is Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who is best known for producing the James Bond movies. Born on Long Island, his family moved to Florida when he was young, but he moved back to New York after his father died. Living with his grandmother in Queens, Broccoli held a number of jobs before getting a job as a gofer on the set of The Outlaw, where he met Howard Hughes for the first time.

After a stint in the Navy, Broccoli moved to Hollywood, where he worked for a talent agency. In the 1950s he moved to London, and soon thereafter formed EON Productions, benefitting from government subsidies for films made in Britain with British cast and crew. Interesting fact: the only non-Bond movie from EON was the Bob Hope film Call Me Bwana (an advertisment for which is seen on a wall in From Russia With Love - it is co-star Anita Ekberg's mouth that serves as a bolt-hole for a baddie shot by Bond and Karim Bey.)

Broccoli spent the rest of his life involved with EON and the Bond franchise (with a side interest in thoroughbreds), up until his death in 1996. He was often noted as being a kind and generous person, which is interesting given his implication in the 1937 death of actor Ted Healy. Healy was apparently beaten to death by three men outside the Trocadero nightclub on the same night his wife gave birth to their first child. While the beating was blamed on "college boys," it's been thought that the actual assailants were Broccoli, actor Wallace Beery, and thug Pat DiCicco. Healy, for his part, was a heavy drinker and there were reports that he picked a fight with the trio, so it's not the most clear-cut case of violence out there. If he only had an umbrella that doubled as a rifle...