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. He is credited with reviving the James Bond film series after a six year hiatus following two critically acclaimed Bond films starring Timothy Dalton, the last of which, Licence to Kill, was commercially unsuccessful.
Pierce Brosnan was born in Navan, County Meath or Drogheda, County Louth, (depending on the source) Republic of Ireland and was raised in England. In the mid-1980s, he became a television star in the USA as the eponymous character of 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 remarried, to American journalist Keely Shaye Smith .
In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honourary 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.
James Bond
In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role of James Bond, Pierce Brosnan (whose Remington Steele series had just ended), was announced as Moore's successor. The 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 then offered the role and would go on to make two critically popular, but not as commercially successful films: The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). 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 disinterest 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 shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and currently is 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 rumored 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 "its absolutely over" and that he indeed had been fired from the role. Although Brosnan has been rumored 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.
For more information on actors currently being considered to play James Bond see Casino Royale, the next Bond film due in 2006.
Selected filmography
External links
Last updated: 05-14-2005 05:20:37
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
