Nedra Sanders Broccoli

Nedra Sanders Broccoli

By: Haven Albin

    Nedra Sanders was born on February 28, 1919 in Steelville, Missouri. She had a brother named William J. “Bill” Sanders. He was born November 2, 1917 in Steelville, Missouri. 

    She moved to Chicago because her father got a job there. Her parents' names were Ethyl Reeves and William J. Sanders. Nedra was a beautiful woman. She was voted the most beautiful brunette worldwide by Life Magazine in the 1941 edition.  After that, she became a model for Coca-Cola in 1941 as well. 

    Nedra was married at 18. Her new husband’s name was William Evans. They had a son named Douglas. Sadly, the marriage did not work out. Nedra wanted to get a divorce, but William did not want a divorce, so he acted in a horrible way. They were at Nedra’s mother's flat (house). Nedra went into the bedroom with him to talk, and he started to grab a knife. It was then when Nedra ran into the other room where Nedra’s mother was. William took a 7-inch hunting knife and stabbed Nedra’s mom, Mrs. Ethel Sanders, with many vicious slashes when she tried grabbing the phone. Sadly, she died at 44. When the violence started, William’s mother ran outside. He then turned to his wife and plunged the knife into her stomach. Nedra had been stabbed. She ran down the stairs outside into the street to join her mother-in-law. While she was doing this, William went to their son, Douglas, to inflict brutal wounds. Douglas was only 2 years old at the time and sadly, he died at the hospital later that day. After that, William came down the stairs staggering after Nedra.  Two men who had just left from the Bedwyn Beacon office stopped William. The men had closed in on William to stop him. When they had stopped William, his knife buried into his own abdomen. Nedra had lost her son and mother. Plus, she had almost died from loss of blood at the hospital. Nedra had been married to William for three and a half years (they were married March 27, 1941) before the assault occurred. He had worked for two straight weeks after they got married, but never consistently after that. She had supported the family. This was one of the reasons she had wanted a divorce from William.

    While Nedra was recovering in the hospital a man named Buddy Clark had gone to see her. They soon fell in love. Buddy was a singer. He sang with many big bands in the 1930s. He was becoming one of the top singers for Columbia records. Nedra and Buddy got married in 1942. Buddy already had two children from a previous marriage. Nedra and Buddy were eager to start a family. In 1943, they had a daughter named Penny. Nedra thought her life was back on track. Buddy Clark was a huge college football fan. He mainly cheered for Stanford University. On October 1, 1949 he was a passenger on a small plane leaving a Stanford-Michigan game. The plane developed a sputtering engine problem due to lack of gas. The plane lost altitude and crashed onto Beverly Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. Buddy was thrown from the plane. Sadly, he did not survive the crash. He died at the young age of 37. Strangely, nobody else died on the plane, or on Beverly Boulevard. The pilot, James L. Hayter’s explanation of the crash was that he was attempting to land the plane at suburban Burbank, California because he was running out of fuel, when the plane ran into overcast skies. (Overcast skies is when 95% of the sky is clouds.) When the plane emerged, he didn’t know where he was. He said,” I switched on the emergency fuel tank just before we got over Los Angeles. When she (the plane) started sputtering I thought the fuel line might have clogged, but later I figured we were out of gas. I just picked a spot and set her (the plane) down.” (according to https://tinyurl.com/y68cqur4)

    The plane skimmed branches from treetops and sheared off two power lines. The plane was directly over Hollywood Boulevard and lost its tail assembly and crashed. Four passengers were tossed out of the plane on impact. When the plane was “landing,” the California police made sure no one was in the way so the “landing” didn’t cause any greater damage. Many people driving cars pulled over to the curb to see the plane overhead. Nedra was once again hit with another misfortune. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, both rivals to Clark in the music business, helped Nedra’s family financially. Frank Sinatra was even a pallbearer at Clark’s funeral.

    In 1950, Nedra and Penny were crossing the street, and a car veered out of control and hit Penny. Penny died at the scene. Nedra had faced with many tragedies in one decade including losing her parents, two children, and a husband.

    In 1952, Nedra married for a third time. She married an upcoming producer, Albert (Cubby) Broccoli. At the time, he was just trying to form his production company. Albert would develop the James Bond series in the 1960s. That project nearly made him a billionaire. Nedra and Albert were told that they had fertility problems. This meant they would never have children.  After the news, in 1954, they adopted a son named Tony. After they had adopted their son, Nedra became pregnant. While Nedra was pregnant, the doctors discovered she had incurable bladder cancer. Tina was the name of her new daughter, born in 1956. Sadly, she would only live a few years after Tina was born.

    Nedra Sanders Broccoli passed away on September 12, 1958. She was only 39, but had lived through countless tragedies. Two of her children, Tony Broccoli and Tina Broccoli are still alive. Even though she moved away from Steelville, Missouri at a young age, she was never forgotten. She was a child of Steelville, Missouri. She was an inspiring lady who had an incredible amount of strength. She was buried in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, USA.