Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish film actor and producer. He is best known for portraying the James Bond secret agent character in four spy films: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. His fans credit him with reviving the James Bond film series after a six year hiatus caused by legal disputes over ownership of the series.
Born an only child in the Republic of Ireland in Drogheda, County Louth, Brosnan lived in nearby Navan, County Meath. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and would later condemn their brutality. After Brosnan's father abandoned his mother she moved to London for work; in 1964, at the age of 11, he joined her. His mother subsequently divorced his father and married a Scotsman.
In the early-1980s, he became a television star with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America which was followed in 1982 by Brosnan playing the title role in the NBC detective series Remington Steele.
Brosnan's first wife, the Australian actress Cassandra Harris, died of ovarian cancer, in 1991, after eleven years of marriage. In 2001, Brosnan married American journalist Keely Shaye Smith.
In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honorary OBE for his "outstanding contribution to the British film industry". As an Irish citizen, he is ineligible to receive the full OBE honour, which is awarded only to a British subject.
On September 23, 2004, Pierce Brosnan became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He is the father of three American sons, and has lived in the United States for more than twenty years.
Pierce Brosnan: James Bond
In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role of James Bond, Timothy Dalton was offered the role of Bond once again, but the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr kept him from being able to accept the role. Sam Neill was then screentested for the role, but ultimately was passed over by Cubby Broccoli. Pierce Brosnan (whose Remington Steele series had just ended), was offered the role, but publicity revived the Remington Steele program and forced Brosnan to back out of the role due to his contract with the show. Timothy Dalton was available at this time and accepted the role. Dalton's second film Licence to Kill (1989) was a disappointment at the American box office, and legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady) and would put the series in a six-year hiatus. During that time, Timothy Dalton announced his lack of interest in playing James Bond, which left the door open for Brosnan, in 1994.
Brosnan's appointment as Bond brought things full circle for the actor, who stated in interviews that the very first movie he ever saw was Goldfinger and that Sean Connery's performance as Bond inspired him to enter show business.
Aware of the danger of being typecast as James Bond, Pierce Brosnan asked EON Productions, when accepting the role, to be allowed to work in other projects between Bond series films. The request was granted, and for every Bond series film, Brosnan appeared in at least two mainstream films, including several he had produced. For a time, rumour was that Brosnan's Bond contract forbade him from wearing a dinner suit (in the United States generally as a tuxedo) in any non-Bond film; that rumour was false.
Brosnan was signed for a four-film deal and first appeared as Agent 007 in 1995's GoldenEye to much critical praise. GoldenEye more than doubled the gross of Dalton's previous film in worldwide ticket box office sales. Pierce returned as Bond in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough to virtually the same success. In 2002 Brosnan appeared for his fourth and final time as the super suave secret agent in Die Another Day. Die Another Day, while controversial to fans as being perhaps one of weaker entries in the Bond series, shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and is currently the highest grossing Bond film ever.
In early 2004, Brosnan starred in the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, allowing his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice work for the character.
Shortly after, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth and final time, Brosnan keeping in mind that aficionados and critics both were unhappy with actor Roger Moore playing the role well into his 50s. Throughout 2004 Brosnan was rumoured numerous times to have been fired from the role to make way for a new and younger actor to take over the role. This was denied by MGM, EON Productions, and even Brosnan himself. As early as October 2004, however, Brosnan had been quoted as saying "it's absolutely over" and that he indeed had been fired from the role. Although Brosnan has been rumoured frequently as still in the running to play 007, he has denied it several times and in February 2005 posted on his website that he was finished with the role. In spite of this, rumours continued to circulate that he was in negotiations with producers. EON confirmed in April 2005 that Brosnan would not be returning.
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