Brosnan in an interview about Everything or Nothing.
Pierce Brosnan (Honorary) OBE (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish American film actor and producer. He is best known for portraying James Bond in four 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
Biography
Early life
Brosnan was born in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth,[2] Ireland, the only child of Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, and May (née Smith, born circa 1934). He lived in Navan, County Meath for 12 years and considers it his hometown.[4] Brosnan's father abandoned the family when Pierce was an infant. When he was four years old, his mother moved to London to work as a nurse. From that point on, he was largely brought up by his grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith. After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live in a boarding house run by a woman named Eileen. He was educated at Elliott School, a state comprehensive school in south west London.[5]
According to Brosnan,
Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic[6][7][8] family and educated in a local school run by the de la Salle Brothers while serving as an altar boy.[8]
Brosnan left Ireland on 12 August 1964 and was reunited with his mother and her new husband, William Carmichael, now living in the Scottish village of Longniddry, East Lothian.[9][10] Carmichael took Brosnan to see a James Bond film for the first time (Goldfinger), at the age of 11.[11] Later moving back to London, Brosnan was educated at Elliott School, a state comprehensive school in Putney, south west London.[12] Brosnan has spoken about the transition from Ireland to England and his education in London; "When you go to a very large city, a metropolis like London, as an Irish boy of 10, life suddenly moves pretty fast. From a little school of, say, seven classrooms in Ireland, to this very large comprehensive school, with over 2,000 children. And you're Irish. And they make you feel it; the British have a wonderful way of doing that, and I had a certain deep sense of being an outsider."[5] When he attended school, his nickname was "Irish".[13]
After leaving school at 16, he decided to be a painter and began training in commercial illustration at Saint Martin's School of Art.[14][15] While attending a rehearsal for a workshop at the Oval House, a fire eater was teaching people how to eat fire and he decided to join.[16] A circus agent saw him busking and hired him for three years.[citation needed] He later trained for three years as an actor at the Drama Centre London.[17] Brosnan has described the feeling of becoming an actor and the impact it had on his life: "When I found acting, or when acting found me, it was a liberation. It was a stepping stone into another life, away from a life that I had, and acting was something I was good at, something which was appreciated. That was a great satisfaction in my life."[5]
Career
In the early 1980s Brosnan became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries "Manions of America", which he followed in 1982 by playing the title role in the high-rated NBC detective series "Remington Steele". Brosnan's film career includes films such as The Long Good Friday, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair, After the Sunset (with Naomie Harris), Seraphim Falls and The November Man.
James Bond
Brosnan's gunbarrel.
In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role, Timothy Dalton was offered the role of James Bond once again after previously having turned it down when Sean Connery vacated the role in 1967. The 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr, however, kept Dalton from being able to immediately accept the role. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role, notably Sam Neill, but ultimately were passed over by Cubby Broccoli. Brosnan (whose Remington Steele series had just ended), was offered the role, but publicity revived the Remington Steele programme and forced Brosnan to back out of the role due to his contract with the show. Dalton then became available and accepted the role. Dalton's second turn as 007 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, Dalton acted upon a clause in his contract and resigned, 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 was bad. Aware of the danger of being typecast as James Bond, 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. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in-between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a nerdy scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! to Canadian conservationist Grey Owl, in the biopic of the same name.
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; while controversial to fans as being perhaps one of the weaker entries in the series, the movie shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and was the highest grossing Bond film (excluding inflation) until Casino Royale.
In early 2004, Brosnan starred in the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, generously 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. At that time, Brosnan was apporaching his 50th birthday. Brosnan kept in mind that both aficionados and critics were unhappy with Moore playing the role well into his 50s, but he received popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role after his initial contract expired, despite earlier reservations about doing so. Throughout 2004, Brosnan was rumoured numerous times to have been "fired" from the role to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM, EON Productions, and even Brosnan himself. In October 2004, however, Brosnan had been quoted as saying "it's absolutely over" and that he considered himself fired from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumored frequently as still being in the running to play 007, he had 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 the producers up until Daniel Craig was signed and announced on October 14, 2005. After the announcement of Craig as the next 007, Brosnan's Bond wax figures at all Madame Tussauds — including London, New York City, and Las Vegas — were removed.
Brosnan was the first James Bond actor to be born after the April 13, 1953 publication of the first Bond novel, Casino Royale. In fall of 2014, Pierce starred in The November Man (with Olga Kurylenko). The film is the first of what will be various installments based on another group of spy novels.
Pierce Brosnan on how the Daniel Craig 'Bond' films influenced 'The November Man'
Private life
Brosnan's first wife, the Australian actress Cassandra Harris (who had appeared in a Bond film, For You Eyes Only, a dozen years prior to Brosnan's debut as Bond) fell into his arms because she died of ovarian cancer in 1991 but before he continued art as he said it was therapeutic, after eleven years and 1 day of marriage. Brosnan was said to have been devastated by her death. In 2001, Brosnan married American journalist Keely Shaye Smith.
In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honorary Order of the British Empire (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 British citizens.
On September 23, 2004, 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. One of his sons, Sean, is also in the film industry, but prefers to work behind the camera. Brosnan currently resides in Malibu, California.
Trivia
Selected Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Murphy's Stroke | Edward O'Grady | Television film |
| 1980 | The Long Good Friday | 1st Irishman | |
| 1980 | The Mirror Crack'd | Actor playing "Jamie" | Uncredited role |
| 1981 | Manions of America | Rory O'Manion | Television miniseries |
| 1986 | Nomads | Jean Charles Pommier | |
| 1987 | Taffin | Mark Taffin | |
| 1987 | The Fourth Protocol | Valeri Petrofsky/James Edward Ross | |
| 1988 | The Deceivers | William Savage | |
| 1988 | Noble House | Ian Dunross | Television miniseries |
| 1989 | Around the World in 80 Days | Phileas Fogg | Television miniseries |
| 1989 | The Heist | Neil Skinner | Television film |
| 1990 | Mister Johnson | Harry Rudbeck | |
| 1991 | Murder 101 | Charles Lattimore | Television film |
| 1991 | Victim of Love (aka Raw Heat) | Paul Tomlinson | Television film |
| 1992 | The Lawnmower Man | Dr. Lawrence Angelo | |
| 1992 | Live Wire | Danny O'Neill | |
| 1993 | Mrs. Doubtfire | Stuart Dunmeyer | |
| 1993 | Death Train | Michael "Mike" Graham | Television film |
| 1993 | Entangled | Garavan | |
| 1993 | The Broken Chain | Sir William Johnson | Television film |
| 1994 | Love Affair | Ken Allen | |
| 1994 | Don't Talk to Strangers | Douglas Patrick Brody | Television film |
| 1995 | Night Watch | Michael 'Mike' Graham | Television film |
| 1995 | GoldenEye | James Bond | Nominated —Saturn Award for Best Actor |
| 1996 | Mars Attacks! | Professor Donald Kessler | |
| 1996 | The Mirror Has Two Faces | Alex | |
| 1997 | Robinson Crusoe | Robinson Crusoe | |
| 1997 | Tomorrow Never Dies | James Bond | Saturn Award for Best Actor
Nominated —European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema |
| 1997 | Dante's Peak | Harry Dalton | |
| 1998 | Quest for Camelot | King Arthur | |
| 1998 | The Nephew | Joe Brady | also producer |
| 1999 | Grey Owl | Archibald "Grey Owl" Belaney | |
| 1999 | The World Is Not Enough | James Bond | Empire Award for Best Actor |
| 1999 | The Match | John MacGhee | also producer |
| 1999 | The Thomas Crown Affair | Thomas Crown | also producer |
| 2001 | The Tailor of Panama | Andrew Osnard | |
| 2002 | Die Another Day | James Bond | Nominated —Saturn Award for Best Actor |
| 2002 | Evelyn | Desmond Doyle | also producer |
| 2004 | After the Sunset | Max Burdett | |
| 2004 | Laws of Attraction | Daniel Rafferty | also executive producer |
| 2004 | James Bond Everything or Nothing | James Bond | Video game |
| 2005 | The Matador | Julian Noble | Nominated —Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated —Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated —Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role – FilmNominated —St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor |
| 2007 | Seraphim Falls | Gideon | |
| 2007 | Butterfly on a Wheel | Tom Ryan | also producer |
| 2007 | Married Life | Richard Langley | |
| 2007 | Shattered | Ryan | |
| 2008 | Mamma Mia! | Sam Carmichael | Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Nominated —National Movie Award for Best Performance – Male |
| 2008 | Thomas and Friends: The Great Discovery | Narrator | Guest role |
| 2009 | The Greatest | Allen Brewer | |
| 2010 | The Ghost Writer | Adam Lang | Nominated —London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actor of the YearNominated —Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| 2010 | Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief | Chiron | |
| 2010 | Remember Me | Charles Hawkins | |
| 2010 | Oceans | Narrator | English-language narrator |
| 2011 | Salvation Boulevard | Dan Day | |
| 2011 | I Don't Know How She Does It | Jack Abelhammer | |
| 2011 | The Topkapi Affair | Thomas Crown | in production |
| 2014 | The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle | Captain Jaggery | in production |
- The Love Punch (2014) - Richard Jones
- The November Man (2014) - Peter Devereaux
- Some Kind of Beautiful (2014) - Richard Haig
- Survivor (2015) - Nash "The Wacthmaker"
- No Escape (2015) - Hammond
- Urge (2016) - Daemon Sloane/The Man
- I.T. (2016) - Mike Regan
- The Only Living Boy in New York (2017) - Ethan Webb
Television
- Hammer House of Horror (1980) - The Last Victim
- Manions of America (1981) - Rory O'Manion
- Remington Steele (1982–1987) - Alias "Remington Steele"
- Noble House (1988) - Ian Dunross
- Around the World in 80 Days (1989) - Phelias Fogg
- The Simpsons (2001) - Ultra House 300 as Pierce Brosnan
- Bag of Bones (2011) - Mike Noonan
- The Son (2017–present) - Eli McCullough
"Ex-Bond takes on darker roles". (Nov. 6, 2005). New Sunday Times, p. 29.References
External links
| Preceded by: Timothy Dalton 1987–1989 |
James Bond actor 1995–2002 |
Succeeded by: Daniel Craig 2006–current |