Harry Saltzman

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Harry Saltzman (October 27, 1915 - September 28, 1994) was a film producer best known for co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R. Broccoli until selling his share of the franchise to United Artists in 1975. He retired from the business at that point with the exception of producing Nijinsky in 1980 directed by Herb Ross and the 1988 British-Italian-Yugoslavian co-production Time of the Gypsies.

Saltzman was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada [1] but moved to Britain where he entered the film business producing social dramas such as 1959's Look Back in Anger and 1960's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

He joined forces with "Cubby" Broccoli in 1962 to create the production company EON Productions and their first film in the James Bond series, Dr. No. Saltzman remained Broccoli's partner up to 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun. In total, Saltzman produced nine James Bond films. In addition to the creation of EON Productions, he and Broccoli also started Danjaq, LLC, a holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks of James Bond on screen. The moniker Danjaq is a combination of Broccoli's and Saltzman's wives' names. Danjaq is the parent company of EON Productions. In 1975 after financial difficulties Saltzman sold his 50% stake in Danjaq to United Artists Corporation.

Other notable productions include The IPCRESS File (1965), The Battle of Britain 1969 and Call Me Bwana (1963) starring Bob Hope. Call Me Bwana is the only film to be produced by EON Productions outside of the James Bond franchise.

Saltzman hated both the theme songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger. The former was used because John Barry managed to convince "Cubby" Broccoli to use it and the latter because, although Saltzman didn't want it, he didn't have time to find a replacement. Both songs have become the standards by which all Bond themes are judged. Saltzman also came close to rejecting Paul McCartney's submission for Live and Let Die. McCartney asked producer George Martin to approach the producers about the song. Saltzman surprised Martin by asking who they could get to sing it, suggesting only female vocalists. Martin pointed out that if he did not take McCartney as the singer he did not get the song.^[1]

Harry Saltzman is survived by 2 children Hilary and Steven Saltzman and 4 grandchildren, Alexandre and Jacqueline de La Bouillerie and Hannah and Jacob Saltzman.