Robert E. Bradford obit

Robert E. Bradford Dies: Film & TV Producer, Husband Of Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford Was 92

 He was not on the list.

Robert E. Bradford, a film and television producer, and the husband of novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, died July 2 in New York’s Weill Cornell Hospital after suffering a stroke at the couple’s Manhattan home the week prior. A spokesperson for the family confirmed his death. Bradford was 92.

The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this year.

Bradford produced nine of his wife’s books as mini-series and movies of the week for NBC and CBS, including 1989’s Voice of the Heart starring Lindsay Wagner and James Brolin; 1992’s To Be The Best, again with Wagner; and 1993’s Remember starring Donna Mills and Stephen Collins.

According to information provided by the family, the German-born and French-educated Bradford left Europe for New York after World War II, landing  a job in public relations. After moving to Hollywood, he met the men who would become his mentors: attorney Louis Blau of Loeb and Loeb, and Jessie L. Lasky, founder of Paramount Pictures.

Several years later, Bradford served as a VP for Samuel Bronston Productions in Madrid. Among his film credits from this era are El Cid, Fifty-Five Days in Peking and John Paul Jones.

Later he was president and CEO of Franco London Films in Paris. During that time he supervised productions including John Frankenheimer’s Impossible Object starring Alan Bates and Dominique Sanda, and oversaw production of the French hit Mourir D’Aimer starring Annie Girardot.

In the 1980s, Bradford formed his own production company and began to film the novels written by his wife Barbara Taylor Bradford. Those projects starred such actors as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Liam Neeson, Deborah Kerr, Jenny Seagrove, James Brolin, Stephen Collins, Sir John Mills, Lindsey Wagner, Elizabeth Hurley and Victoria Principal. All were filmed in London.

At the time of his death, Bradford was planning a remake of his wife’s international bestseller A Woman of Substance.

Services are planned for 12:30 P.M. Wednesday July 10 at the Riverside, 76th Street & Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to New York Weil Cornell Medical Center.