A woman born in Steelville went on to become a Hollywood model, appear in films during the golden age of American cinema and marry one of the most influential producers in entertainment history. Her second husband helped create the James Bond film franchise, which would eventually become a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

The life of Nedra Sanders Broccoli was also marked by extraordinary adventure, but also marred by personal tragedy. In less than a decade, she lost her mother, two children and two husbands. Her story, which stretched from Steelville to Chicago, New York City, Hollywood and London, is one of remarkable achievement and profound loss.

Broccoli’s connection to Steelville can still be seen today. Her grandfather, A.J. Sanders, operated the A.J. Sanders Dealer in Everything Store on Steelville’s Main Street, where the store’s painted sign remains visible.

Broccoli was born Nedra Sanders in Steelville on Feb. 28, 1919, to parents William J. and Ethyl Reeves Sanders. Although her family had deep ties to Steelville, her parents moved the family to Chicago for work when she was a young girl.

In 1937, Broccoli, at just 18 years old, married her first husband, William Evans. The couple had one son, Douglas.

The marriage didn’t last long. Just over three years later, in 1941, Broccoli filed for divorce from Evans.

According to an obituary written for Broccoli in the Ocala Star-Banner, Evans became “incensed when (Broccoli) refused to drop the divorce action” after learning she was filing for divorce.

After two weeks of separation, in March 1941, Evans and his mother went to the home of Ethyl Sanders, Broccoli’s mother, with whom she was living at the time.

Evans told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in March 1941 that an argument between the two mothers ensued during the visit.

“My mother and (Broccoli’s) mother got into an argument and (Broccoli’s) mother called the police. I went after her and pulled the telephone from the wall. She started to hit me over the head with the phone,” Evans told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Then, Evans killed his mother-in-law.

“I stabbed her repeatedly with my hunting knife,” Evans said.

Evans was not finished. He also attacked Broccoli and their 2-year-old son.

Broccoli and Douglas were rushed to a hospital with multiple stab wounds. Broccoli survived her injuries, but Douglas did not.

Following the killings, Evans was restrained by passersby in the street until police officers could detain him. He later confessed and was sentenced to life in an Illinois state prison.

While Broccoli’s life fell apart around her in the spring of 1941, her career was beginning to take off.

Just one week before the attack, she had been selected as the “most beautiful brunette model” by the Chicago Society of Photographic Illustrators, helping launch her modeling career. Later that year, she would be voted “most beautiful brunette worldwide” by Life magazine.

Broccoli went on to work as a model for Coca-Cola illustrations and advertisements in 1942, some of which can still be seen at The Fountain Emporium in Steelville today.

In March 1941, while Broccoli was recovering from her injuries, she was visited by Buddy Clark. The pair reportedly fell in love and married the following year, in 1942.

Clark was not yet the nationally recognized recording artist he would eventually become, although he had regular work singing live on the radio and making radio transcriptions.

The couple lived between New York City and Hollywood, where Broccoli herself began finding work in the film industry during the golden age of Hollywood. She appeared in background roles in two films during the 1940s. She first appeared as a Harem Girl in 1941’s Arabian Nights, followed by a role as a Circus Girl in 1943’s Flesh and Fantasy.

The same year Broccoli appeared in Flesh and Fantasy, she and Clark had a daughter named Penny. Clark also had two children from a previous marriage.

Clark would go on to make a significant mark on the music and entertainment industry, but his career was cut short by his untimely death in 1949.

On Oct. 1, 1949, Clark, who had just finished performing on the nationally broadcast Club Fifteen on CBS Radio, boarded a small plane to attend a college football game between the University of Michigan and Stanford University in Stanford, California.

Clark, a Stanford fan, watched as Michigan defeated his team 27-7. Then, he and five others boarded the plane for the return trip to Los Angeles.

But Clark would never make it home.

The plane, which was later found to have been overloaded, ran out of fuel, lost altitude and crashed on Beverly Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

Clark was the only person killed in the crash. The other four passengers and the pilot survived with injuries. According to an Oct. 12 report in The Madera Tribune, Clark had changed seats with another passenger just minutes before the crash.

Even more tragic was that Clark left behind three children and a 30-year-old widow.

Broccoli, once again faced with tragedy, buried Clark alongside friends and musical rivals Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra himself served as a pallbearer at Clark’s funeral. Both Crosby and Sinatra reportedly helped support Broccoli financially following the loss of her husband.

Less than a year later, in 1950, Broccoli and Clark’s then-7-year-old daughter, Penny, was crossing the street in Brentwood, California, to meet a playmate when she was struck and killed by a passing car, according to The Ocala Star-Banner. She died at the scene.

In less than a decade, Broccoli had lost her mother, husband and two children.

In 1951, Broccoli married once again. This time, her husband was an up-and-coming American film producer named Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who was producing films in England under his newly formed production company, Warwick Films.

Broccoli and Albert Broccoli moved to England, where, after struggling with infertility, the couple adopted a son, Tony Broccoli, in 1954. The following year, Broccoli became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Tina Broccoli, in 1956.

Albert Broccoli eventually acquired the film rights to Ian Fleming’s James Bond and produced the widely popular film adaptations until his death in 1996. Broccoli and Albert Broccoli’s children, Tony and Tina, also went on to become producers for the James Bond films, helping turn the series into the multibillion-dollar franchise it is today.

In an obituary for Broccoli, The Chicago Tribune wrote that “the unhappiness that had dogged the beauty’s life seemed to have come to an end after she married (Albert) Broccoli.”

Broccoli may have found happiness with Albert Broccoli and her family, but she would face one more tragedy.

While she was pregnant with Tina, doctors discovered that Broccoli had developed an incurable cancer in her bladder. According to The Ocala Star-Banner, she fell seriously ill in May 1957 and returned to the United States to seek medical treatment in New York City.

She died on Sept. 23, 1958, at the age of 39 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Biographies and obituaries for Broccoli have often focused on the many tragedies she experienced throughout her life.

In an obituary published Sept. 24, 1958, The Star-Banner wrote that Broccoli had “beauty and talent and sometimes riches — though served only at interludes to line with silver the great cloud of tragedy that hung over the life of Nedra Sanders.”

While Broccoli experienced extraordinary personal loss, she also led a life of adventure that took her from her hometown to work as a model and entertainer in some of America’s largest cities and in London. Her story ultimately became intertwined with one of the most recognizable film franchises in history.

And although much of her life unfolded thousands of miles away, its roots were in Steelville.