Herschel "Harry" Saltzman (/ˈsɔːltsmən/; (1915-10-27)October 27, 1915 – (1994-09-28)September 28, 1994) was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the James Bond film series with Albert R. Broccoli. Apart from a ten-year stint living in St. Petersburg, Florida, he lived most of his life in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England.
Saltzman was born in a hospital in Sherbrooke, Quebec,[1] the son of Jewish immigrants Abraham Saltzman and Dora Horstein.[2][3] His father was a horticulturalist and immigrated to the US in 1905 from Kozienice, Poland (then Congress Poland within the Russian Empire). His parents married in 1909. The couple moved to Canada in 1910[4] where their four oldest children (Minnie, Florence, Herschel and Isadore) were born. The family then moved to Cleveland, Ohio[1] where their youngest son, David, was born. Saltzman was raised in Saint John, New Brunswick for the first seven years of his life. Harry ran away from home at the age of 15.[5] Saltzman was 30 when he learned where he had actually been born.[1]
Career
At about age 17, Saltzman joined a circus and travelled with them for some years.[citation needed]
In 1932, Saltzman moved to Paris to study political science and economics. However within a year, he was "hand-picking talent for 40 two-a-day vaudeville houses all over Europe."[1] Saltzman claimed that he had worked as an assistant for French film director René Clair, who came to the United States in 1940 to make the film The Flame of New Orleans.[6]
In 1942, Saltzman signed a booking contract with Fanchon & Marco Enterprises. Saltzman went to the West Coast to sign big picture names. Saltzman sought the Ritz Brothers, but due to film commitments, they could not sign.[7] In 1943, Saltzman was managing The Gilbert Brothers' Combined Circus. According to an advert, the 1943 season began 26 May in Clifton, New Jersey, and was booked solid through the Eastern American states until mid-October.[8]
In 1945, Saltzman helped Lin Yutang establish UNESCO's film division,[9] which was initially focused on trying to mediate the Chinese Civil War between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. He eventually quit due to "east-west differences" which to him seemed "so hopeless".[1] Saltzman spent a year with the French government's Ministry of Reconstruction. At that point, he decided he wanted back in show business.[1]
After the war, in Paris, Saltzman became part of the writer Colette's entourage.[10] He worked as a talent scout for European productions on stage, television and in film, but gradually became more successful producing stage plays. He moved to the United States in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, Saltzman and Rhea Fink formed the Mountie Enterprises Corporation, to operate coin-operated hobby horses. The first hobby horses appeared in department stores, on floors where children's goods are sold.[11] By February 1951 Mountie Enterprises Corporation and Saltzman's new company Rider Amusement Corporation reported brisk business, as both companies got contracts to install coin-operated hobby horses in major department stores in numerous American cities. Saltzman claimed to earn US$35 a day per hobby horse.(equivalent to $413.30 in 2023)[12]
He moved, what was by then his family of four, to the UK in the mid-1950s, where he again produced theatre. He entered the film business by producing The Iron Petticoat (1956), a play adaptation. Saltzman started Woodfall Film Productions with Tony Richardson and John Osborne, and produced other acclaimed social realism dramas such as 1959's Look Back in Anger and 1960's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Film director Anthony Mann noted the dichotomy in Saltzman's career: "Harry used to make great pictures; now he makes very successful ones. After all, you can't be an artist all your life."[1]
In early 1961, excited by reading the James Bond novel Goldfinger, he made a bid to land the film rights to the character. Saltzman co-founded Danjaq, S.A. with Albert R. Broccoli in 1962. It was a holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks of James Bond on screen, and the parent company of Eon Productions, which they also set up as a film production company for the Bond films. The moniker Danjaq is a combination of the names of Broccoli's third wife and Saltzman's second (Dana and Jacqueline, respectively).
In 1958, he had set up the production company Lowndes Productions,[13] but he did not use it for film production until 1965, and used it for eight productions thereafter, among them his three Harry Palmer films with Michael Caine: The Ipcress File (1965), Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967). The company's last production came out in 1988, and it was dissolved in 1992.[13]
Saltzman produced other films between the James Bond and Harry Palmer productions. These include his World War II pet project Battle of Britain (1969), and Call Me Bwana (1963), one of only three films to be produced by Eon Productions outside of the James Bond franchise[citation needed]. Saltzman also attempted to make a film about Canadian Métis leader Cuthbert Grant.[1]
In 1969, Saltzman borrowed 70 million Swiss francs (US$40,000,000) from the Union Bank of Switzerland.[14] In 1970, Saltzman won control of the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation from chairman Patrick Frawley in a proxy fight.[15] However, by 1972 Saltzman sold off 370,500 shares of Technicolor stock for $7.6M to repay his loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland.[16]Film Bulletin also claimed that some of Saltzman's former allies in the 1970 proxy had forced Saltzman to sell the stocks — which they purchased — and were seeking to oust him from the Technicolor board. Saltzman filed several lawsuits against Technicolor executive board members, claiming conspiracy "seeking to retain his positions in the firm."[17] Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz claims Technicolor was selling at $30 per share, when Saltzman took control of the company in 1970; it was selling at $8 a share by 1972, at the time Saltzman was ousted.[18] At some point, Saltzman defaulted on the interest payments to the Swiss Bank.[14]
According to a 1978 court decision, Saltzman and Broccoli had allegedly agreed to dissolve Danjaq, S.A. in 1972, but Broccoli later allegedly refused to honour the agreement.[19] Saltzman unsuccessfully attempted to have the Swiss courts dissolve the company.[19] By autumn that year, Saltzman's financial situation was desperate.[19] In March 1974, the Los Angeles Times reported that Saltzman was attempting to sell Paramount Pictures his 50% share of the Bond film franchise.[20] On April 24, 1978, Sir Patrick O'Connor of the British High Court ordered Saltzman to pay an American law firm £13,000 (US$28,000) plus £5,000 (US$10,500) in post-judgment interest and court costs.[14] Saltzman had retained the firm to resolve his financial difficulties.[19]
Saltzman's productions in the 1970s also proved problematic. A science fiction musical, Toomorrow starring Olivia Newton-John, was withdrawn from release and resulted in several lawsuits. Also in 1970, Saltzman cancelled a planned film, several weeks before shooting was to begin, about the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, starring Rudolf Nureyev. Director Tony Richardson believed that Saltzman had overextended himself, and did not have the funds to make the film.[21] Throughout the 1970s, Saltzman struggled to make a film of The Micronauts — a "shrunken man", which was a science fiction story to have starred Gregory Peck and Lee Remick — investing much money into the doomed project, that was finally shelved in the late 1970s.[22] Due to numerous financial difficulties, Saltzman sold his 50% stake in Danjaq to United Artists Corporation in 1975. Subsequently, his health also declined and he became depressed.[citation needed]
In 1980, Saltzman purchased the theatrical production company H.M. Tennent Ltd., becoming its chairman.[23]
Saltzman all but retired from the movie business thereafter. He had long desired to produce a film on the life of Vaslav Nijinsky, based on biographies, the rights to which he had acquired in the 1960s. He has an executive producer credit on the film Nijinsky in 1980, and the 1988 British-Italian-Yugoslavian co-production Time of the Gypsies.
Saltzman was married three times. He had four children;[25] one with his first wife and three with his second.
He was briefly married in California.[1] His first wife Tanya "helped in an amazing way to enlighten his work and contribution to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force and in the U.S. secret service OSS," Hollywood Reporter noted. Saltzman's first child, Merry, was born in 1946. As a child, she played with the likes of Ian Fleming, Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Michael Caine and Cary Grant.[25]On October 30, 2024 at the age of 77, she died at her home in San Jose, California following a brief battle with cancer.
Judith Krantz claims that she and Saltzman briefly dated. Krantz's father liked Saltzman and found him an entertaining conversationalist. Krantz claims that Saltzman proposed to her. She declined, saying that he was not her physical type, which she regretted because she thought he was "a wonderful companion, with a fantastic imagination."[10]
After World War II, Saltzman was in Paris, where he met Jacqueline Colin, a refugee from Romania, whom he subsequently married. Harry and Jacqueline Saltzman had three children: Hilary, Steven and Christopher. Hilary and Christopher attended the private Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[26]
In the early 1970s, Saltzman's wife Jacqueline was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In 1972, the Saltzmans relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, where Jacqueline's sister lived.[27] In March 1977, Saltzman sold his English country mansion and moved full-time to St. Petersburg.[27] Jacqueline Saltzman died of cancer on January 31, 1980.[26]
In 1982, Saltzman sold his 15-room Venetian Isles, St. Petersburg, Florida home, and moved back to London. His two oldest children with Jacqueline were out of school, and his youngest was studying in Switzerland.[28]
Harry Saltzman subsequently married Adriana Ghinsberg.[29]
He died of a heart attack on September 28, 1994, while visiting Paris.[1]
Harry Palmer is the name given to the anti-hero protagonist of several films based on spy novels written by Len Deighton, in which the main character is an unnamed intelligence officer. For convenience, the novels are also often referred to as the "Harry Palmer" novels.
Diamonds Are Forever is a 1971 spy film and the seventh film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth and final Eon film to star Sean Connery, who returned to the role as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond, having declined to reprise the role in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Albert Romolo Broccoli, nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career. Most of the films were made in the United Kingdom and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and Eon Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the producer of many of the James Bond films. He and Harry Saltzman saw the films develop from relatively low-budget origins to large-budget, high-grossing extravaganzas, and Broccoli's heirs continue to produce new Bond films.
Eon Productions Limited is a British film production company that primarily produces the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the UK.
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film Thunderball and for his legal battles with the character's creator, Ian Fleming.
Michael Gregg Wilson, is an American-British screenwriter and film producer, best known for his association with the James Bond film series.
Call Me Bwana is a 1963 British Technicolor farce film starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg and directed by Gordon Douglas.
Irving Allen was an Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director.
Danjaq, LLC is the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the characters, elements, and other material related to James Bond on screen. It is currently owned and managed by the family of Albert R. Broccoli, the co-initiator of the film franchise.
Peter Roger Hunt was a British director, editor and producer of film and television, best known for his work on the James Bond film series, first as an editor and then as a second unit director. He finally served as director for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. His work on the series helped pioneer an innovative, fast-cutting editing style.
Thomas Frank Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television whose credits included James Bond films and his contributions to Superman: The Movie (1978) and the television series Hart to Hart. He was the son of Joseph Mankiewicz and nephew of Herman Mankiewicz. He is not related to the similarly named Wolf Mankowitz who worked on the first James Bond film, uncredited.
Thunderball is a 1965 spy film and the fourth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham devised from a story conceived by Kevin McClory, Whittingham, and Fleming. It was the third and final Bond film to be directed by Terence Young, with its screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins.
The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974 spy film and the ninth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. A loose adaptation of Ian Fleming's posthumously published 1965 novel of the same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological solution to contemporary energy shortages, while in a game of cat and mouse facing the assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the Solex.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the 1963 novel by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon selected George Lazenby, a model with no prior acting credits, to play the part of James Bond. During filming, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once. Connery returned to portray Bond in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever.
The Spy Who Loved Me is a 1977 spy film, the tenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. The film co-stars Barbara Bach and Curt Jürgens and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay was by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum, with an uncredited rewrite by Tom Mankiewicz.
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film directed by Terence Young. It is the first film in the James Bond series. Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman and Jack Lord, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather from the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, a partnership that continued until 1975. It was followed by From Russia with Love in 1963. In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American space launch from Cape Canaveral with a radio beam weapon.
Live and Let Die is a 1973 spy film, the eighth film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Guy Hamilton and produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, while Tom Mankiewicz wrote the script.
The James Bond film series is a British series of spy films based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond, "007", who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. It is one of the longest continually running film series in history, having been in ongoing production from 1962 to the present. In that time, Eon Productions has produced 25 films as of 2021, most of them at Pinewood Studios. With a combined gross of over $7 billion, the films produced by Eon constitute the fifth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the Eon series, the latest being Daniel Craig.
The Battle for Bond (2007), by Robert Sellers, is a cinema history book of how the literary character James Bond metamorphosed to the cinema James Bond. The book details the collaboration among film producer Kevin McClory, novelist Ian Fleming, screenwriter Jack Whittingham and others to create the film Thunderball.
Johanna Harwood, a.k.a. J. M. Harwood, is a retired Irish screenwriter. She was born and raised in County Wicklow, Ireland. She co-wrote two James Bond films, and went uncredited for adaptation work on a third.
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