Barbara
Broccoli

When Albert “Cubby” Broccoli handed over the reins to his production empire a year before his death in 1996, few could have foreseen that his greatest legacy – a series of spy films following the exploits of James Bond, a character created by Ian Fleming in 1953 – would show no signs of fatigue more than two decades later. Yet under the stewardship of his daughter Barbara, in conjunction with her brother Michael G Wilson, the James Bond franchise continues to thrive.

Moving upwards in the family business, jumping from publicity to AD to producing, Broccoli has revealed a shrewd business mind that’s unafraid of change, proving her mettle with the casting in 2005 of the relatively unknown Daniel Craig. After four successful films with Pierce Brosnan, disaster was predicted, but Broccoli proved the doubters wrong. Released in the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the 23rd Bond feature “Skyfall” went on to become the highest grossing film of all time at the UK box office, grossing £103 million. Two years later, its near-sequel “Spectre” joined it in the top three with £95.2 million.

As well as co-producing a series of successful stage productions, Broccoli is also a supporter of emerging talent and film culture. A trustee of film education charity Into Film, and Vice President for Film in the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, she recently expanded her non-Bond portfolio with odd-couple comedy “Radiator,” Scotland-set romance “The Silent Storm” (both 2014) and the just-wrapped Gloria Grahame biodrama “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool.”