Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish actor and producer, who also has United States citizenship. He is best known for portraying James Bond in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. His fans credit him with reviving the James Bond series after a six-year hiatus caused by the major legal and financial issues of MGM, the distributor of the series.

Pierce Brosnan’s fans credit him with reviving the James Bond series after a six-year hiatus caused by the major legal and financial issues of MGM, the distributor of the series.

In the early-1980s, he became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America. He followed this with his 1982 portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw in the Masterpiece Theatre documentary that chronicled the life of Virginia-born Lady Nancy Astor – the first woman to sit in British Parliament. In 1982, Pierce shot to popularity in the United States playing the ruggedly handsome title role in the popular NBC romantic detective series Remington Steele. In 1986 Brosnan was actually offered the job as James Bond before the Remington Steele series could be completed, but he was unable to break the contract with the producers.

In 1986, with Roger Moore’s retirement from the role, Timothy Dalton was approached once again, after previously having turned it down in 1969; however, the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr kept Dalton from being able immediately to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role but ultimately passed over by Cubby Broccoli. Brosnan, whose television series Remington Steele had just ended, was offered the role, but publicity revived Remington Steele and forced Brosnan to back out of the role of James Bond, due to his contract with the show.

In 1982, Pierce Brosnan shot to popularity in the US playing the title role in the romantic detective series ‘Remington Steele’.

Dalton then became available and accepted the role for The Living Daylights (1987), which was a box-office success; his 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 the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 and would put the series in a six-year hiatus. GoldenEye was originally written with Dalton as Bond, but he felt too old for the role and turned it down, which left the door open for Brosnan in 1994.

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 films. The request was granted, and for every Bond film, Brosnan appeared in at least two other mainstream films, including several he had produced. For a time, rumour was that his Bond contract forbid him from wearing a dinner suit in any non-Bond film; that rumour was false. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in-between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a nerdy scientist in Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, a vulcanologist in Dante’s Peak and the title role in Grey Owl, a biopic about the eponymous Canadian conservationist.

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, and Brosnan returned 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 Bond in Die Another Day.

For a time, rumour was that his Bond contract forbade Pierce Brosnan from wearing a dinner suit in any non-Bond film; that rumour was false.

Shortly after, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth and final time, (in Casino Royale). Brosnan kept in mind that both aficionados and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role well into his fifties, but here he received popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth installment. 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 and EON Productions. 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 rumoured frequently as still being in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times, and in February 2005 he 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.

See also:

• Bond, James: Actors