- He attended both Boston University and Harvard College. He earned a law degree from the later and began writing night club and vaudeville routines as a hobby while practicing law. Later, he turned to radio writing.
- He is best known for his long association with Universal Studios, where his credits included Harvey, The Glenn Miller Story (1954), several Francis movies and the Tammy series.
- He and Jack Rubin became writers on Baby Face Morgan (1942) for the Producers Releasing Corporation, Brodney's first credit. He was then assigned to the musical When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) at Universal. Universal is where Brodney would work for most of his career.
- He wrote a film It Comes Up Love that was meant to be filmed in Britain in 1967 but appears to have never been made.
- Brodney died in 2008, six days before his 101st birthday.
- In 1971, he was working on a biopic of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. That year, he signed a two-picture deal with Robert Stone to write scripts, including one called Intrigue. Neither of these appear to have been made.
- Some members of Brodney's family learned of his death through Amy S. Bruckman's "Nextbison" WordPress webpage, referencing information from Wikipedia.
- Brodney was one of several writers on the hugely popular Harvey (1950).
- He wrote a film No, No Nora which appears to have not been made.
- At Universal he worked on Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1949) with O'Connor; Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), doing some uncredited work; The Gal Who Took the West (1949), based on a story he devised with William Bowers; Arctic Manhunt (1949); and Frenchie (1950) with Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters, based on his story.
- In the late 1950s he began to produce movies, his first one being When Hell Broke Loose at Paramount in 1958, where he was co-producer. The movie starred Charles Bronson.
- Brodney's final credits include episodes of the TV series It Takes a Thief and the British film 1000 Convicts and a Woman (1971) aka Fun and Games.
- RKO used him for If You Knew Susie (1948) the last movie of Eddie Cantor.
- At Universal he wrote She Wrote the Book (1946); Mexican Hayride (1948) with Abbott and Costello; For the Love of Mary (1948) with Deanna Durbin; and Are You with It? (1948) with Donald O'Connor.
- His final credit was Ghost Fever (1987).
- In 1945 he was reportedly working on a biopic of dance teacher Arthur Murray and Love Takes a Holiday for Joan Davis but neither were made.
- He was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an immigrant fisherman. One of seven children, a younger brother was the painter Edward Brodney and his older brother Max a doctor.
- He sold a story to Linda Darnell called Flamenco and Three Cornered Honeymoon for Jack Oakie but these were not made.
- Brodney was working as a "radio idea man" in 1941. He and writing partner Jack Rubin had submitted a number of stories to Hollywood studios and only got polite rejections. They pitched a vehicle for Charles Boyer called Appointment for Love to Universal producer Bruce Manning, who bought the story.
- He was nominated for an Oscar for The Glenn Miller Story screenplay which he wrote with Valentine Davies in 1954. That year he signed a two-year contract with the studio, where he had been based since 1942, except for two years during the war.
- In March 1956 Brodney left Universal. He went to work at RKO on The Great Maestro a biopic of Ben Bernie that was never made.
- He produced a vehicle for Pat Boone, All Hands on Deck (1961), and one for Frankie Vaughan, The Right Approach (1961), both made at Fox.
- He began writing night club and vaudeville routines as a hobby and became a radio writer.
- He went to England where he produced and co wrote Bobbikins (1959), a vehicle for Max Bygraves at 20th Century Fox.
- He wrote South Sea Sinner (1950) with Shelley Winters; Curtain Call at Cactus Creek (1950) with Donald O'Connor; Comanche Territory (1950) with Maureen O'Hara; and Little Egypt (1951) with Rhonda Fleming.
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