Pierce Brosnan
Encyclopedia
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish
actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre
in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele
(1982–87).
After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak
and The Thomas Crown Affair
. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond
in the official film series
, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador
(nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).
In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles
-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.
He was married to Australia
n actress Cassandra Harris
from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith
in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.
, County Louth
, Ireland
, to Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, and May (née
Smith, born circa 1934), and was their only child. He lived in Navan
, County Meath
for 12 years and considers it his hometown.
Brosnan's mother moved to London
to work as a nurse after his father abandoned the family. According to Brosnan,
From a young age Brosnan 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 with a woman named Eileen. Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic family and educated in a local school run by the Christian Brothers
while serving as an altar boy
. Brosnan has expressed contempt for his education by the Christian Brothers. In spite of this, Brosnan still attends Mass
, but adheres to his own spiritual beliefs. When asked in a 2008 Reader's Digest
interview if he still practiced Catholicism, Brosnan replied, "I was an altar boy. That never leaves you. So when there are churches around, I go to church. I just went yesterday. I also love the teachings of Buddhist
philosophy. It's my own private faith. I don't preach it, but it's a faith that is a comfort to me when the night is long."
Brosnan left Ireland on 12 August 1964 and was reunited with his mother and her new husband, a British World War II
veteran, William Carmichael, now living in the Scottish
village of Longniddry
, East Lothian
. Brosnan quickly embraced his mother's new husband as a father figure. Carmichael took Brosnan to see a James Bond film for the first time (Goldfinger
), at the age of 11. Later moving back to London, Brosnan was educated at Elliott School
, a state comprehensive school
in Putney
, West London
. 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." When he attended school, his nickname was "Irish".
After leaving school at 16, he decided to be a painter and began training in commercial illustration at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
. At the Oval House in 1969, he came to a workshop to rehearse. A fire eater
was teaching women how to put the flames across the chest while topless, and he decided to join in and learned how to fire-eat. A circus agent saw him busking
and hired him for three years. He later trained for three years as an actor at the Drama Centre London. 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."
in 1975, Brosnan began working as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre Royal
, making his acting debut in Wait Until Dark
. Within six months, he was selected by playwright Tennessee Williams
to play the role of McCabe in the British première of The Red Devil Battery Sign
. His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy". In 1977 he was picked by Franco Zeffirelli
to appear in the play Filumena by Eduardo De Filippo
opposite Joan Plowright
and Frank Finlay
.
He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday
(1980) and The Mirror Crack'd
(1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals
, Murphy's Stroke
, and Play for Today
. 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 Masterpiece Theatre
documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw II
garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award
nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1982, Brosnan moved to Southern California
and rose to popularity in the United States playing the title role in the NBC
romantic detective series Remington Steele
. The Washington Post noted that same year that Brosnan "could make it as a young James Bond." After Remington Steele ended in 1987, Brosnan went on to appear in several films, including The Fourth Protocol
(1987), a Cold War
thriller in which he starred alongside Michael Caine
, The Deceivers
and James Clavell
's Noble House
both in (1988), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1992, he shot a pilot for NBC
called Running Wilde, playing a reporter for Auto World magazine. Jennifer Love Hewitt
played his daughter. The pilot never aired, however. In 1993 he played a supporting role in the comedy film Mrs. Doubtfire
. He also appeared in several television films, including Victim of Love
(1991), Death Train
(1993) and Night Watch
(1995), a spy thriller set in Hong Kong
.
on the sets of For Your Eyes Only
because his first wife, Cassandra Harris
, was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act… he's my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore
. It was reported by both Entertainment Tonight
and the National Enquirer, that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of Simon Templar
in The Saint
. Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993 but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."
In 1986, Timothy Dalton
was approached for the Bond role; his involvement with the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr
kept Dalton from being able to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role — notably Sam Neill
— but were ultimately passed over by Broccoli. Remington Steele was about to end, so Brosnan was offered the role, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role, owing to his contract. By then, Dalton had become available again, and he accepted the role for The Living Daylights
(1987), and Licence to Kill
(1989). Legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady
) and put the series on a hiatus, which lasted six years. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond.
Brosnan was signed for a three-film Bond deal with the option of a fourth. The first, 1995's GoldenEye
, grossed US $350 million worldwide, the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995, making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker
, taking inflation into account. It holds an 80% Rotten tomato
rating, while Metacritic
holds it at 65%. In the Chicago Sun-Times
, Roger Ebert
gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films. James Berardinelli
described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."
In 1996, Brosnan formed a film production company entitled "Irish DreamTime" along with producing partner and long time friend Beau St. Clair. Three years later the company's first studio project, The Thomas Crown Affair
, was released and met both critical and box office success.
Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies
and 1999's The World Is Not Enough
, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth time as Bond in Die Another Day
, receiving mixed reviews but was a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery
did six. Six would be a number, then never come back." Brosnan asked EON Productions
when accepting the role, to be allowed to work on 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 produced, playing a wide range of roles, ranging from a scientist in Tim Burton
's Mars Attacks!
, to the title role in Grey Owl
which documents the life of Englishman Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, one of Canada's first conservationists. During a press conference for Grey Owl 1999 Tom Green
serenaded star Pierce Brosnan and kissed him surreptitiously filming a segment for `The Tom Green Show` Thinking Green was a journalist Brosnan advised him not to give up his `day job`
Shortly after the release of Die Another Day, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth time. Brosnan kept in mind that both fans and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth installment. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role. Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM and EON Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me".
In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still 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. Daniel Craig
took over the role on 14 October 2005. In an interview with The Globe and Mail
, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Daniel Craig
as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job". He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune
, stating that "[Craig's] on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."
During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video game
Nightfire (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield
). In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game Everything or Nothing
, contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character.
He also starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis
and Geoffrey Rush
in The Tailor of Panama
in 2001, and lent his voice to The Simpsons
episode "Treehouse of Horror XII
", as a machine with Pierce Brosnan's voice.
, the title role to be played by Miranda Richardson
. Brosnan's first post-Bond role was that of Daniel Rafferty in 2004's Laws of Attraction
. Garreth Murphy, of entertainment.ie
, described Brosnan's performance as "surprisingly effective, gently riffing off his James Bond persona and supplementing it with a raffish energy". In the same year, Brosnan starred in After the Sunset
alongside Salma Hayek
and Woody Harrelson
. The film elicited generally negative reviews and a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
. Brosnan's next film was 2005's The Matador
. He starred as Julian Noble, a jaded, neurotic assassin who meets a travelling salesman (Greg Kinnear
) in a Mexican
bar. The film garnered generally positive reviews. Roger Ebert
for the Chicago Sun-Times
called Brosnan's performance the best of his career. Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy
but lost to Joaquin Phoenix
for Walk the Line
. In December 2005, Brosnan was reported to be starring in The November Man, an adaptation of Bill Granger
's novel, There Are No Spies, but the project was cancelled in 2007.
In 2007, Brosnan appeared in the film Seraphim Falls
alongside fellow Irishman Liam Neeson
. The film was released for limited screenings on 26 January 2007 to average reviews. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times
noted that Brosnan and Neeson made "fine adversaries;" Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter
thought that they were "hard-pressed to inject some much-needed vitality into their sparse lines." During the same year, Brosnan spoke of making a western with fellow Irishmen Gabriel Byrne
and Colm Meaney
and making an adaptation of the 1990 novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
. It was suggested that Brosnan would play the ship's captain, Jaggery, joining Saoirse Ronan
and Morgan Freeman
. In that same year Brosnan starred as Tom Ryan in Butterfly on a Wheel
.
In 2008, Brosnan joined Meryl Streep
in the film adaption
of the ABBA
musical Mamma Mia!
. He played Sam Carmichael, one of three men rumoured to be the father of lead Amanda Seyfried
, while Streep played her mother. Judy Craymer, producer to the film, said "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor, and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy." Brosnan's preparation in singing for the role included walking up and down the coast and singing karaoke
to his own voice for about six weeks, followed by rehearsals in New York in which he noted he "sounded dreadful." Brosnan's singing in the film was generally disparaged by critics, with his singing compared in separate reviews to the sound of a water buffalo
, a donkey
, and a wounded raccoon
. In September 2008, Brosnan provided the narration for Thomas the Tank Engine
in Thomas and Friends and The Great Discovery
.
In 2009, Brosnan starred in The Big Biazarro, (alternative title The Ace), an adaptation of the Leonard Wise novel, directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall
. Brosnan portrayed a card player who mentors a headstrong protégé. Also In 2009, Brosnan finished the well-received The Ghost Writer, playing a disgraced British Prime Minister, directed and produced by Roman Polanski
. The film won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
. He starred as Charles Hawkins in the film Remember Me
and as Chiron
in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
, both released in 2010.
His latest announced project is a role in the Danny DeVito
helmed feature Charlotte Doyle in which he will appear alongside Morgan Freeman
through David Harris, one of Richard Harris
' nephews, in 1977, shortly after he left drama school. On meeting her, he has described his feelings, saying, "What a beautiful looking woman. I never for an instant thought she was someone I'd spend 17 years of my life with. I didn't think of wooing her, or attempting to woo her; I just wanted to enjoy her beauty and who she was." They began dating, and eventually bought a house in Wimbledon
. They married on 27 December 1980 and had one son together, Sean
, who was born on 13 September 1983. They lived with her children, Charlotte and Christopher
, and after their father Dermot Harris died in 1986, he adopted them and they took the surname Brosnan.
Financially, Brosnan was concerned about earning enough money to get by at this time, and supplemented their income by working in West End productions, and a television film about Irish horse racing. Soon after Harris appeared in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only
in 1981, with a bank loan, they moved to southern California where Brosnan had his first interview in Hollywood for Remington Steele, and subsequently no longer had financial worries.
When Remington Steele was sent to Ireland to film an episode there, generating significant publicity in doing so, Brosnan was briefly reunited with his father who visited his hotel. Brosnan had expected to see a very tall man, but describes his father as "a man of medium stature, pushed-back silver hair, flinty eyes and a twizzled jaw. He had a very strong Kerry accent." However, Brosnan expresses regret that they met under such circumstances in a public environment rather than on his own terms which would have given him the opportunity to speak privately with him.
While filming The Deceivers
in Rajasthan
, India, in 1987, his wife Cassandra Harris became seriously ill. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer
and she died as a result of the illness in December 1991, aged 43. Brosnan struggled to cope with her cancer and death: "When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy
, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children." Harris had always wanted Brosnan to play the role of James Bond, and in 1995, some four years after her death, Brosnan achieved this when he appeared in GoldenEye
.
In 1994, Brosnan met American journalist Keely Shaye Smith
in Mexico. In 2001, at Ballintubber Abbey
in County Mayo
, Ireland, they married. They have two sons together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan (birth 13 January 1997) and Paris Beckett Brosnan (birth 27 February 2001).
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 citizen of the Commonwealth realm
s. In 2002, Brosnan was also awarded an Honorary degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology
and, one year later, the University College Cork.
On 23 September 2004, Brosnan became a citizen of the United States, but has retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan said that "my Irishness is in everything I do. It's the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It's where I come from." Brosnan was asked by a fan if it annoyed him when people get his nationality confused. He said: "It amuses me in some respects that they should confuse me with an Englishman when I'm dyed-in-the-wool, born and bred Irishman...I don't necessarily fly under any flag. But no, it doesn't bother me."
Pierce Brosnan has been an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland
since 2001 and recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson. Brosnan supported John Kerry
in the 2004 Presidential election
and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage
.
Brosnan first became aware of nuclear disarmament
at the age of nine when worldwide condemnation of the 1962 U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada headlined international news. During the 1990s, he participated in news conferences in Washington, D.C. to help Greenpeace
draw attention to the issue. Brosnan boycotted the French GoldenEye premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program. From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio. The couple with Halle Berry
, Cindy Crawford
and Daryl Hannah
successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu and would cause damage to the marine life there; the State Lands Commission eventually denied the lease to build the terminal. In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
vetoed the facility. Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd
's Board of Advisors. Brosnan was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation
in 2004.
Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife's terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colourful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée
prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities." Since Harris's death, Brosnan has been an advocate for cancer awareness and, in 2006, he served as spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day
, a breast cancer
fundraiser which raises millions of dollars and raises more money in a single day than any other breast cancer fundraiser.
In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian
island of Kauai
, where they own a home. On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth
in London. He also recorded a television advertisement for the cause. Brosnan lives with his family in Malibu, California.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre
Drama Centre
Drama Centre London is a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it recently relocated after a major reshaping of the university. The school is part of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London and is a member of the Conference of Drama...
in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
(1982–87).
After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak
Dante's Peak
Dante's Peak is a 1997 disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton and Charles Hallahan. The film portrays the effect of a volcano erupting near a small town in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The film is loosely...
and The Thomas Crown Affair
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)
The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 American heist film directed by John McTiernan. The film, starring Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo and Denis Leary, is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name....
. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
in the official film series
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
007: Everything or Nothing is a third-person shooter video game, where the player controls James Bond. Bond is modeled after and voiced by the former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, making it his final performance for the character in game and film...
. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador
The Matador
The Matador is a 2005 American dark comedy film written and directed by Richard Shepard and starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.As of February 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $10.5 million in the American box office...
(nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).
In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.
He was married to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n actress Cassandra Harris
Cassandra Harris
Cassandra Harris was an Australian actress.Born Sandra Colleen Waites in Sydney, Australia, Cassandra Harris was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She enrolled in 1961, aged 12, under the name Sandra Gleeson. She went on to perform in the successful Sydney stage production of...
from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith
Keely Shaye Smith
Keely Shaye Smith , also known as Keely Shaye Brosnan, is an American journalist, author, and television host/correspondent. She is married to Pierce Brosnan.-Career:...
in 2001, becoming an American citizen in 2004.
Early life
Brosnan was born at Saint Mary's Hospital in DroghedaDrogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
, County Louth
County Louth
County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, to Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, and May (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Smith, born circa 1934), and was their only child. He lived in Navan
Navan
-People:Navan was the childhood home of Pierce Brosnan, who appeared in the television series Remington Steele and was the fifth film actor to play James Bond. TV personality Hector Ó hEochagáin, and comedians Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan also hail from Navan....
, County Meath
County Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...
for 12 years and considers it his hometown.
Brosnan's mother moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to work as a nurse after his father abandoned the family. According to Brosnan,
From a young age Brosnan 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 with a woman named Eileen. Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic family and educated in a local school run by the Christian Brothers
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
while serving as an altar boy
Altar server
An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian religious service. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell and so on....
. Brosnan has expressed contempt for his education by the Christian Brothers. In spite of this, Brosnan still attends Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, but adheres to his own spiritual beliefs. When asked in a 2008 Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
interview if he still practiced Catholicism, Brosnan replied, "I was an altar boy. That never leaves you. So when there are churches around, I go to church. I just went yesterday. I also love the teachings of Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
philosophy. It's my own private faith. I don't preach it, but it's a faith that is a comfort to me when the night is long."
Brosnan left Ireland on 12 August 1964 and was reunited with his mother and her new husband, a British World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran, William Carmichael, now living in the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
village of Longniddry
Longniddry
Longniddry is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, with a population of 2,613 .Longniddry is primarily a dormitory village for commuters to Edinburgh, with good transport links by road and rail to the capital...
, East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
. Brosnan quickly embraced his mother's new husband as a father figure. Carmichael took Brosnan to see a James Bond film for the first time (Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
), at the age of 11. Later moving back to London, Brosnan was educated at Elliott School
Elliott School (London)
Elliott School is a co-educational foundation school and sixth form college in Pullman Gardens, Putney, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It has Language College specialist status through which it gained a European Award for Languages in 2004, the International School Award from the British...
, a state comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
in Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, West London
Scot
A Scot is a member of an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland, derived from the Latin name of Irish raiders, the Scoti.Scot may also refer to:People with the given name Scot:* Scot Brantley , American football linebacker...
. 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." When he attended school, his nickname was "Irish".
After leaving school at 16, he decided to be a painter and began training in commercial illustration at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. The school has an outstanding international reputation, and is considered one of the world's leading art and design institutions...
. At the Oval House in 1969, he came to a workshop to rehearse. A fire eater
Fire eater
A fire eater is an entertainer, often a street artist or part of a sideshow. The performer places flaming objects into their mouth and extinguishes them by cutting off oxygen. They also practice controlling and transferring the flame....
was teaching women how to put the flames across the chest while topless, and he decided to join in and learned how to fire-eat. A circus agent saw him busking
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
and hired him for three years. He later trained for three years as an actor at the Drama Centre London. 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."
Early career
After graduating from the Drama CentreDrama Centre
Drama Centre London is a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it recently relocated after a major reshaping of the university. The school is part of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London and is a member of the Conference of Drama...
in 1975, Brosnan began working as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre Royal
York Theatre Royal
The York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St. Leonard's Place, York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 847 people. This reduced capacity takes into account removal of the mixing position seats and the stage side boxes which are normally not sold...
, making his acting debut in Wait Until Dark
Wait Until Dark
Wait Until Dark is a play by Frederick Knott.-Synopsis:Susy Hendrix is a blind Greenwich Village housewife who becomes the target of three con-men searching for the heroin hidden in a doll, which her husband Sam innocently transported from Canada as a favor to a woman who has since been murdered...
. Within six months, he was selected by playwright Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
to play the role of McCabe in the British première of The Red Devil Battery Sign
The Red Devil Battery Sign
The Red Devil Battery Sign is a 1975 drama written by American playwright Tennessee Williams. It was revised substantially before publication....
. His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy". In 1977 he was picked by Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
to appear in the play Filumena by Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo
Eduardo De Filippo was an Italian actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria.-Biography:...
opposite Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
and Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
.
He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday
The Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film...
(1980) and The Mirror Crack'd
The Mirror Crack'd
The Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 film British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side...
(1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
, Murphy's Stroke
Gay Future
Gay Future was the racehorse at the centre of an attempted coup by an Irish betting syndicate in Great Britain in 1974. The plot involved a Scottish trainer named Antony Collins initially presenting a poorly-performing horse at his stables as if it were the real Gay Future...
, and Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
. He became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America
Manions of America
Manions of America is a 6 hour mini-series for American television made in 1981. The subject of the series were Irish immigrants to the United States during the Great Famine of the mid-19th century. It was the first American role for actor Pierce Brosnan, co-starring Kate Mulgrew, David Soul and...
. He followed this with his 1982 Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly prime time drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw II
Robert Gould Shaw II
Robert Gould Shaw II was a wealthy landowner and socialite of the leisure class in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts during the late 19th century, in an era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States referred to as the Gilded Age.Born in 1872 into one of the wealthiest and...
garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1982, Brosnan moved to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and rose to popularity in the United States playing the title role in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
romantic detective series Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
. The Washington Post noted that same year that Brosnan "could make it as a young James Bond." After Remington Steele ended in 1987, Brosnan went on to appear in several films, including The Fourth Protocol
The Fourth Protocol (film)
The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 Cold War spy film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, based on the novel The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.- Plot :The plot centres on a secret 1968 East-West agreement to halt nuclear proliferation...
(1987), a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
thriller in which he starred alongside Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, The Deceivers
The Deceivers
The Deceivers is a 1952 novel by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule. It was adapted in 1988 as the Merchant Ivory Productions film starring Shashi Kapoor, Pierce Brosnan, Bijaya Jena, Saeed Jaffrey and Dalip Tahil....
and James Clavell
James Clavell
James Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
's Noble House
Noble House
Noble House is a novel by James Clavell, published in 1981 and set in Hong Kong in 1963.It is a massive book, well over 1000 pages, with dozens of characters and numerous intermingling plot lines. In 1988, it was adapted as a television miniseries for NBC starring Pierce Brosnan...
both in (1988), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1992, he shot a pilot for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
called Running Wilde, playing a reporter for Auto World magazine. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...
played his daughter. The pilot never aired, however. In 1993 he played a supporting role in the comedy film Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 American comedy film starring Robin Williams and Sally Field and based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. It was directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup...
. He also appeared in several television films, including Victim of Love
Victim of Love (film)
Victim of Love is a 1991 psychological thriller film starring Pierce Brosnan, JoBeth Williams and Virginia Madsen. The film was originally produced for CBS Network but due to its popularity, steamy scenes were expanded and the film was given a PG-13 rating and re-released on DVD as Raw Heat by...
(1991), Death Train
Death Train
Death Train, also known as Detonator, is a 1993 made for TV movie, one of Pierce Brosnan's earlier films. It also stars Christopher Lee, Patrick Stewart, Ted Levine and Alexandra Paul...
(1993) and Night Watch
Night Watch (1995 film)
Night Watch is a 1995 American television spy film directed by David Jackson starring Pierce Brosnan and Alexandra Paul. The film, also known as Alistair MacLean's Nightwatch, was shot in Hong Kong....
(1995), a spy thriller set in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
James Bond (1995–2004)
Brosnan first met James Bond films producer Albert R. BroccoliAlbert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
on the sets of For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
because his first wife, Cassandra Harris
Cassandra Harris
Cassandra Harris was an Australian actress.Born Sandra Colleen Waites in Sydney, Australia, Cassandra Harris was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She enrolled in 1961, aged 12, under the name Sandra Gleeson. She went on to perform in the successful Sydney stage production of...
, was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act… he's my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
. It was reported by both Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
and the National Enquirer, that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of Simon Templar
Simon Templar
Simon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris’s...
in The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
. Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993 but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."
In 1986, Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
was approached for the Bond role; his involvement with the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr
Brenda Starr (film)
Brenda Starr is a 1989 adventure film, based on Dale Messick's Brenda Starr comic strip. The film was directed by Robert Ellis Miller, and stars Brooke Shields, Timothy Dalton, and Diana Scarwid.-Plot:...
kept Dalton from being able to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role — notably Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
— but were ultimately passed over by Broccoli. Remington Steele was about to end, so Brosnan was offered the role, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role, owing to his contract. By then, Dalton had become available again, and he accepted the role for The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent 007. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story, "The Living Daylights"...
(1987), and Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
(1989). Legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady
Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Octopussy and The Living Daylights is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series...
) and put the series on a hiatus, which lasted six years. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond.
Brosnan was signed for a three-film Bond deal with the option of a fourth. The first, 1995's GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
, grossed US $350 million worldwide, the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995, making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
, taking inflation into account. It holds an 80% Rotten tomato
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
rating, while Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
holds it at 65%. In the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films. James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."
In 1996, Brosnan formed a film production company entitled "Irish DreamTime" along with producing partner and long time friend Beau St. Clair. Three years later the company's first studio project, The Thomas Crown Affair
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)
The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 American heist film directed by John McTiernan. The film, starring Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo and Denis Leary, is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name....
, was released and met both critical and box office success.
Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...
and 1999's The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth time as Bond in Die Another Day
Die Another Day
Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
, receiving mixed reviews but was a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
did six. Six would be a number, then never come back." Brosnan asked EON Productions
EON Productions
Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
when accepting the role, to be allowed to work on 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 produced, playing a wide range of roles, ranging from a scientist in Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, surreal humour, and political satire, and claims to be also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies...
, to the title role in Grey Owl
Grey Owl (film)
Grey Owl is a 1998 biopic directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Pierce Brosnan in the role of real life British schoolboy turned Indian trapper "Grey Owl," Archibald Belaney , and Annie Galipeau as his wife Anahareo. With brief appearances by Graham Greene and others. The screenplay was...
which documents the life of Englishman Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, one of Canada's first conservationists. During a press conference for Grey Owl 1999 Tom Green
Tom Green
Michael Thomas "Tom" Green is a Canadian actor, rapper, writer, comedian, talk show host and media personality. Best known for his shock humour brand of comedy, Green found mainstream prominence via his MTV television show The Tom Green Show...
serenaded star Pierce Brosnan and kissed him surreptitiously filming a segment for `The Tom Green Show` Thinking Green was a journalist Brosnan advised him not to give up his `day job`
Shortly after the release of Die Another Day, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth time. Brosnan kept in mind that both fans and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth installment. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role. Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM and EON Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me".
In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still 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. Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
took over the role on 14 October 2005. In an interview with The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job". He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
, stating that "[Craig's] on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."
During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video game
James Bond games
The James Bond video game franchise is a series of shooter games and other genres developed and published by a variety of companies...
Nightfire (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield
Maxwell Caulfield
Maxwell Caulfield is a British film, stage, and television actor who is based in the United States, known for his roles as Michael Carrington in Grease 2 and as Miles Colby in The Colbys and its parent show Dynasty . He has more than 70 film, stage and television credits. He starred in Ronald F...
). In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game Everything or Nothing
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
007: Everything or Nothing is a third-person shooter video game, where the player controls James Bond. Bond is modeled after and voiced by the former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, making it his final performance for the character in game and film...
, contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character.
He also starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
and Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
in The Tailor of Panama
The Tailor of Panama
The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 American film based on the 1996 spy novel of the same name by John le Carré, which was inspired by Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana...
in 2001, and lent his voice to The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Treehouse of Horror XII
Treehouse of Horror XII
“Treehouse of Horror XII” is the first episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. Because of Fox’s contract with Major League Baseball’s World Series, the episode first aired on the Fox Network in the United States on November 6, 2001, nearly one week after Halloween. It is the twelfth annual...
", as a machine with Pierce Brosnan's voice.
Post-James Bond
Since 2004, Brosnan has talked of backing a film about Caitlin Macnamara, wife of poet Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, the title role to be played by Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
. Brosnan's first post-Bond role was that of Daniel Rafferty in 2004's Laws of Attraction
Laws of Attraction
Laws of Attraction is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Howitt, based on a story by Aline Brosh McKenna and screenplay by Robert Harling, Howitt and McKenna. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. It grossed $17.8 million in the United States, on a budget of $32 million...
. Garreth Murphy, of entertainment.ie
Entertainment.ie
entertainment.ie is a Dublin-based Irish website which provides extensive cinema, TV, live music, theatre, comedy, exhibition and festival listings for free, as well as celebrity gossip, music and movie news, movie and DVD reviews, CD reviews and up-to-date lottery results.The site was developed in...
, described Brosnan's performance as "surprisingly effective, gently riffing off his James Bond persona and supplementing it with a raffish energy". In the same year, Brosnan starred in After the Sunset
After the Sunset
After the Sunset is a 2004 action comedy film starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Stan Lloyd played by Woody Harrelson...
alongside Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
and Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson is an American actor.Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd...
. The film elicited generally negative reviews and a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Brosnan's next film was 2005's The Matador
The Matador
The Matador is a 2005 American dark comedy film written and directed by Richard Shepard and starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.As of February 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $10.5 million in the American box office...
. He starred as Julian Noble, a jaded, neurotic assassin who meets a travelling salesman (Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...
) in a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
bar. The film garnered generally positive reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
for the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
called Brosnan's performance the best of his career. Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
but lost to Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...
for Walk the Line
Walk the Line
Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash...
. In December 2005, Brosnan was reported to be starring in The November Man, an adaptation of Bill Granger
Bill Granger (author)
Bill Granger is an Edgar Award winning author from Chicago specializing in political thrillers. He also writes under the pseudonyms Joe Gash and Bill Griffith. He worked at the "Chicago Tribune" and other Illinois newspapers. Some of his famous thrillers are "The November Man", "Schism" and "The...
's novel, There Are No Spies, but the project was cancelled in 2007.
In 2007, Brosnan appeared in the film Seraphim Falls
Seraphim Falls
Seraphim Falls is a 2007 American Revisionist Western film directed by television producer and director David Von Ancken in his first feature film. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques. The fictional story focuses on a bounty hunt for a Union...
alongside fellow Irishman Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
. The film was released for limited screenings on 26 January 2007 to average reviews. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
noted that Brosnan and Neeson made "fine adversaries;" Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
thought that they were "hard-pressed to inject some much-needed vitality into their sparse lines." During the same year, Brosnan spoke of making a western with fellow Irishmen Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
and Colm Meaney
Colm Meaney
Colm J. Meaney is an Irish actor widely known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is second only to Michael Dorn in most appearances in Star Trek episodes. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons...
and making an adaptation of the 1990 novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a young adult historical fiction novel by the American author Avi that was published in 1990. It takes place during the transatlantic crossing of a ship from England to America in the 19th century. The book chronicles the evolution of the title character...
. It was suggested that Brosnan would play the ship's captain, Jaggery, joining Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Una Ronan is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Ronan has since appeared in...
and Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
. In that same year Brosnan starred as Tom Ryan in Butterfly on a Wheel
Butterfly on a Wheel
Butterfly on a Wheel is a 2007 Canadian thriller film directed by Mike Barker, co-produced and written by William Morrissey, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, and Maria Bello...
.
In 2008, Brosnan joined Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
in the film adaption
Mamma Mia! (film)
Mamma Mia! is a 2008 musical/romantic comedy film adapted from the 1999 West End/2001 Broadway musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson...
of the ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
musical Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not...
. He played Sam Carmichael, one of three men rumoured to be the father of lead Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried is an American actress, singer-songwriter and former child model. She began her career as a child model when she was 11, and at 15 began her career as an actress, starting off with uncredited roles and moving on to recurring roles on As the World Turns and All My...
, while Streep played her mother. Judy Craymer, producer to the film, said "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor, and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy." Brosnan's preparation in singing for the role included walking up and down the coast and singing karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
to his own voice for about six weeks, followed by rehearsals in New York in which he noted he "sounded dreadful." Brosnan's singing in the film was generally disparaged by critics, with his singing compared in separate reviews to the sound of a water buffalo
Water buffalo
The water buffalo is a domesticated bovid widely kept in Asia, Europe and South America.Water buffalo can also refer to:*Wild water buffalo , the wild ancestor of the domestic water buffalo...
, a donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
, and a wounded raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
. In September 2008, Brosnan provided the narration for Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
in Thomas and Friends and The Great Discovery
The Great Discovery
The Great Discovery is a 2008 film and feature spin-off of the TV series, Thomas and Friends. The film is a follow up, not a direct sequel to Thomas and the Magic Railroad and a sequel to Calling All Engines! The DVD was released on September 9 2008 in the United States and October 6 2008 in the...
.
In 2009, Brosnan starred in The Big Biazarro, (alternative title The Ace), an adaptation of the Leonard Wise novel, directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall is an American actor and film director.As an actor, he is best known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope created by David E. Kelley.-Early life:...
. Brosnan portrayed a card player who mentors a headstrong protégé. Also In 2009, Brosnan finished the well-received The Ghost Writer, playing a disgraced British Prime Minister, directed and produced by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
. The film won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. He starred as Charles Hawkins in the film Remember Me
Remember Me (2010 film)
Remember Me is a 2010 American romantic coming of age drama film directed by Allen Coulter, and screenplay by Will Fetters. It stars Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, and Pierce Brosnan.-Plot:...
and as Chiron
Chiron
In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.-History:Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents...
in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a 2010 fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus. The film is loosely based on The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan...
, both released in 2010.
His latest announced project is a role in the Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
helmed feature Charlotte Doyle in which he will appear alongside Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
Personal life
Brosnan met Australian actress Cassandra HarrisCassandra Harris
Cassandra Harris was an Australian actress.Born Sandra Colleen Waites in Sydney, Australia, Cassandra Harris was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She enrolled in 1961, aged 12, under the name Sandra Gleeson. She went on to perform in the successful Sydney stage production of...
through David Harris, one of Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
' nephews, in 1977, shortly after he left drama school. On meeting her, he has described his feelings, saying, "What a beautiful looking woman. I never for an instant thought she was someone I'd spend 17 years of my life with. I didn't think of wooing her, or attempting to woo her; I just wanted to enjoy her beauty and who she was." They began dating, and eventually bought a house in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
. They married on 27 December 1980 and had one son together, Sean
Sean Brosnan (actor)
Sean Brendan Brosnan is an Irish and Australian American actor and the son of actor Pierce Brosnan.-Early life:He was born in 1983 to Pierce Brosnan and Cassandra Harris. Pierce Brosnan is an actor and Harris was a professional actress...
, who was born on 13 September 1983. They lived with her children, Charlotte and Christopher
Chris Brosnan
Chris Brosnan : Mother Cassandra Harris, Adopted FatherPierce Brosnan, whose roles include James Bond and Thomas Crown Affair. Uncle is Actor Richard HarrisWORKFILM PRODUCTION...
, and after their father Dermot Harris died in 1986, he adopted them and they took the surname Brosnan.
Financially, Brosnan was concerned about earning enough money to get by at this time, and supplemented their income by working in West End productions, and a television film about Irish horse racing. Soon after Harris appeared in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
in 1981, with a bank loan, they moved to southern California where Brosnan had his first interview in Hollywood for Remington Steele, and subsequently no longer had financial worries.
When Remington Steele was sent to Ireland to film an episode there, generating significant publicity in doing so, Brosnan was briefly reunited with his father who visited his hotel. Brosnan had expected to see a very tall man, but describes his father as "a man of medium stature, pushed-back silver hair, flinty eyes and a twizzled jaw. He had a very strong Kerry accent." However, Brosnan expresses regret that they met under such circumstances in a public environment rather than on his own terms which would have given him the opportunity to speak privately with him.
While filming The Deceivers
The Deceivers
The Deceivers is a 1952 novel by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule. It was adapted in 1988 as the Merchant Ivory Productions film starring Shashi Kapoor, Pierce Brosnan, Bijaya Jena, Saeed Jaffrey and Dalip Tahil....
in Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, India, in 1987, his wife Cassandra Harris became seriously ill. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
and she died as a result of the illness in December 1991, aged 43. Brosnan struggled to cope with her cancer and death: "When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children." Harris had always wanted Brosnan to play the role of James Bond, and in 1995, some four years after her death, Brosnan achieved this when he appeared in GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
.
In 1994, Brosnan met American journalist Keely Shaye Smith
Keely Shaye Smith
Keely Shaye Smith , also known as Keely Shaye Brosnan, is an American journalist, author, and television host/correspondent. She is married to Pierce Brosnan.-Career:...
in Mexico. In 2001, at Ballintubber Abbey
Ballintubber Abbey
Ballintubber Abbey is a royal abbey in Co. Mayo, Ireland, founded by King Cathal Crobdearg Ua Conchobair in 1216. It is said to be the only church in Ireland founded by an Irish king that is still in regular use....
in County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, Ireland, they married. They have two sons together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan (birth 13 January 1997) and Paris Beckett Brosnan (birth 27 February 2001).
In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
awarded Brosnan an honorary OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
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 citizen of the Commonwealth realm
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s. In 2002, Brosnan was also awarded an Honorary degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...
and, one year later, the University College Cork.
On 23 September 2004, Brosnan became a citizen of the United States, but has retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan said that "my Irishness is in everything I do. It's the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It's where I come from." Brosnan was asked by a fan if it annoyed him when people get his nationality confused. He said: "It amuses me in some respects that they should confuse me with an Englishman when I'm dyed-in-the-wool, born and bred Irishman...I don't necessarily fly under any flag. But no, it doesn't bother me."
Environmental and charitable work
UNICEF Ireland
UNICEF Ireland, also known as the Irish National Committee for UNICEF, is one of 36 UNICEF National Committees based in industrialised countries.The National Committees raise funds for the organisation's worldwide emergency and development work....
since 2001 and recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson. Brosnan supported John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
in the 2004 Presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
.
Brosnan first became aware of nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
at the age of nine when worldwide condemnation of the 1962 U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada headlined international news. During the 1990s, he participated in news conferences in Washington, D.C. to help Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
draw attention to the issue. Brosnan boycotted the French GoldenEye premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program. From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
The International Fund for Animal Welfare is currently one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world.The group says its mission is "to improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting...
to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio. The couple with Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
and Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu and would cause damage to the marine life there; the State Lands Commission eventually denied the lease to build the terminal. In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
vetoed the facility. Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd
Sea Shepherd
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit, marine conservation organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington in the United States. The group uses direct action tactics to protect sealife...
's Board of Advisors. Brosnan was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation
Sustainable Style Foundation
The Sustainable Style Foundation is a Seattle, Washington-based international nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable design and sustainable living....
in 2004.
Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife's terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colourful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée
Giclée
Giclée , is a neologism coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne for fine art digital prints made on ink-jet printers. The name originally applied to fine art prints created on IRIS printers in a process invented in the late 1980s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print and is...
prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities." Since Harris's death, Brosnan has been an advocate for cancer awareness and, in 2006, he served as spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day
Lee National Denim Day
Lee National Denim Day is a fundraiser created by Lee Jeans to support the Women's cancer programs of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Every year, people are asked to donate the money they'd spend on a pair of jeans to support breast cancer research and wellness programs...
, a breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
fundraiser which raises millions of dollars and raises more money in a single day than any other breast cancer fundraiser.
In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
island of Kauai
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
, where they own a home. On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth
Live Earth
-Background:Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Live Earth was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action...
in London. He also recorded a television advertisement for the cause. Brosnan lives with his family in Malibu, California.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Murphy's Stroke | Edward O'Grady | Television film |
| 1980 | The Long Good Friday The Long Good Friday The Long Good Friday is a British gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. It was completed in 1979 but, because of release delays, it is generally credited as a 1980 film... |
1st Irishman | |
| 1980 | The Mirror Crack'd The Mirror Crack'd The Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 film British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side... |
Actor playing "Jamie" | Uncredited role |
| 1981 | Manions of America Manions of America Manions of America is a 6 hour mini-series for American television made in 1981. The subject of the series were Irish immigrants to the United States during the Great Famine of the mid-19th century. It was the first American role for actor Pierce Brosnan, co-starring Kate Mulgrew, David Soul and... |
Rory O'Manion | Television miniseries |
| 1982-1987 | Remington Steele Remington Steele Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic... |
Remington Steele | Television series |
| 1986 | Nomads Nomads (1986 film) Nomads is a 1986 horror film which was written and directed by John McTiernan and stars Pierce Brosnan and Lesley-Anne Down.The story involves a French anthropologist who is an expert on nomads... |
Jean Charles Pommier | |
| 1987 | Taffin Taffin Taffin is a 1988 Irish thriller film directed by Francis Megahy and starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role of Mark Taffin. It also featured Ray McAnally, Alison Doody and Jeremy Child... |
Mark Taffin | |
| 1987 | The Fourth Protocol The Fourth Protocol (film) The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 Cold War spy film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, based on the novel The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.- Plot :The plot centres on a secret 1968 East-West agreement to halt nuclear proliferation... |
Valeri Petrofsky/James Edward Ross | |
| 1988 | The Deceivers The Deceivers (film) The Deceivers is a 1988 adventure film directed by Nicholas Meyer. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Saeed Jaffrey. The film is based on the 1952 John Masters novel of the same name.-Plot:... |
William Savage | |
| 1988 | Noble House | Ian Dunross Ian Dunross Ian Dunross is a fictional character in James Clavell's novel Noble House, and a minor protagonist behind the scenes in Whirlwind.Dunross is the 10th tai-pan of Struan's, who rose to that office in 1960 and took the company public. Prior to this, he was a lifelong Struan's employee, a son and... |
Television miniseries |
| 1989 | Around the World in 80 Days Around the World in 80 Days (TV miniseries) Around the World in 80 Days is a 1989 three-part television Eastmancolor miniseries originally broadcast on NBC. The production garnered three nominations for Emmy awards that year... |
Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg is the main fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days.Fogg attempts to circumnavigate the late Victorian world in eighty days, or less, for a wager of £20,000 with members of London's Reform Club. He takes the wager and leaves with Passepartout,... |
Television miniseries |
| 1989 | The Heist | Neil Skinner | Television film |
| 1990 | Mister Johnson Mister Johnson Mister Johnson is a 1990 American drama film based on the 1939 novel by Joyce Cary. The film was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where Maynard Eziashi won the Silver Bear for Best Actor.The film was shot in Toro, Nigeria... |
Harry Rudbeck | |
| 1991 | Murder 101 | Charles Lattimore | Television film |
| 1991 | Victim of Love Victim of Love (film) Victim of Love is a 1991 psychological thriller film starring Pierce Brosnan, JoBeth Williams and Virginia Madsen. The film was originally produced for CBS Network but due to its popularity, steamy scenes were expanded and the film was given a PG-13 rating and re-released on DVD as Raw Heat by... (aka Raw Heat) |
Paul Tomlinson | Television film |
| 1992 | The Lawnmower Man | Dr. Lawrence Angelo | |
| 1992 | Live Wire Live Wire (film) Live Wire is a 1992 action movie, written by Bart Baker, directed by Christian Duguay and starring Pierce Brosnan, Ron Silver, Ben Cross and Lisa Eilbacher.... |
Danny O'Neill | |
| 1993 | Mrs. Doubtfire Mrs. Doubtfire Mrs. Doubtfire is a 1993 American comedy film starring Robin Williams and Sally Field and based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. It was directed by Chris Columbus and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup... |
Stuart Dunmeyer | |
| 1993 | Death Train Death Train Death Train, also known as Detonator, is a 1993 made for TV movie, one of Pierce Brosnan's earlier films. It also stars Christopher Lee, Patrick Stewart, Ted Levine and Alexandra Paul... |
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 Don't Talk to Strangers Don't Talk to Strangers is a 1994 Made-for-TV psychological thriller film. It was directed by Robert Lewis and starred Pierce Brosnan.-Plot:... |
Douglas Patrick Brody | Television film |
| 1995 | Night Watch Night Watch (1995 film) Night Watch is a 1995 American television spy film directed by David Jackson starring Pierce Brosnan and Alexandra Paul. The film, also known as Alistair MacLean's Nightwatch, was shot in Hong Kong.... |
Michael 'Mike' Graham | Television film |
| 1995 | GoldenEye GoldenEye GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming... |
James Bond James Bond (character) Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games... |
Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres... |
| 1996 | Mars Attacks! Mars Attacks! Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, surreal humour, and political satire, and claims to be also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies... |
Professor Donald Kessler | |
| 1996 | The Mirror Has Two Faces The Mirror Has Two Faces The Mirror Has Two Faces is a 1996 American romance film produced and directed by Barbra Streisand, who also stars. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is based on the 1958 French film Le Miroir à deux faces written by André Cayatte and Gérard Oury, which focused on a homely woman who becomes a... |
Alex | |
| 1997 | Robinson Crusoe | Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and... |
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| 1997 | Tomorrow Never Dies Tomorrow Never Dies Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering... |
James Bond | Saturn Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres... Nominated — European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema |
| 1997 | Dante's Peak Dante's Peak Dante's Peak is a 1997 disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton and Charles Hallahan. The film portrays the effect of a volcano erupting near a small town in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The film is loosely... |
Harry Dalton | |
| 1998 | Quest for Camelot Quest for Camelot Quest for Camelot is a 1998 animated feature film from Warner Bros. Animation, based on the novel The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman, starring the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Bronson Pinchot, Jaleel White, Gabriel Byrne,... |
King Arthur King Arthur King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and... |
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| 1998 | The Nephew The Nephew The Nephew is a 1998 film directed by Eugene Brady, which tells the story of a young biracial American man, Chad Egan-Washington .-Plot:... |
Joe Brady | also producer |
| 1999 | Grey Owl Grey Owl (film) Grey Owl is a 1998 biopic directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Pierce Brosnan in the role of real life British schoolboy turned Indian trapper "Grey Owl," Archibald Belaney , and Annie Galipeau as his wife Anahareo. With brief appearances by Graham Greene and others. The screenplay was... |
Archibald "Grey Owl Grey Owl Grey Owl was the name Archibald Belaney adopted when he took on a First Nations identity as an adult... " Belaney |
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| 1999 | The World Is Not Enough The World Is Not Enough The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It... |
James Bond | Empire Award for Best Actor Empire Award for Best Actor The Empire Award for Best Actor is one of the Empire Awards presented annually by Empire magazine to actors working in the motion picture industry. The Empire Award for Best Actor is one of six ongoing awards that have been handed out since the establishment of the Empire Awards in 1996... |
| 1999 | The Match | John MacGhee | also producer |
| 1999 | The Thomas Crown Affair The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film) The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 American heist film directed by John McTiernan. The film, starring Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo and Denis Leary, is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name.... |
Thomas Crown | also producer |
| 2001 | The Tailor of Panama The Tailor of Panama The Tailor of Panama is a 2001 American film based on the 1996 spy novel of the same name by John le Carré, which was inspired by Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana... |
Andrew Osnard | |
| 2002 | Die Another Day Die Another Day Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale... |
James Bond | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres... |
| 2002 | Evelyn Evelyn (film) Evelyn is a 2002 drama film, loosely based on the true story of Desmond Doyle and his fight against the Irish courts to be reunited with his children. The film stars Sophie Vavasseur in the title role, Pierce Brosnan as her father and Aidan Quinn, Julianna Margulies and Stephen Rea as supporters to... |
Desmond Doyle | also producer |
| 2004 | After the Sunset After the Sunset After the Sunset is a 2004 action comedy film starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Stan Lloyd played by Woody Harrelson... |
Max Burdett | |
| 2004 | Laws of Attraction Laws of Attraction Laws of Attraction is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Howitt, based on a story by Aline Brosh McKenna and screenplay by Robert Harling, Howitt and McKenna. It stars Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. It grossed $17.8 million in the United States, on a budget of $32 million... |
Daniel Rafferty | also executive producer |
| 2004 | James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing 007: Everything or Nothing is a third-person shooter video game, where the player controls James Bond. Bond is modeled after and voiced by the former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, making it his final performance for the character in game and film... |
James Bond | Video game |
| 2005 | The Matador The Matador The Matador is a 2005 American dark comedy film written and directed by Richard Shepard and starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.As of February 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $10.5 million in the American box office... |
Julian Noble | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres... Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Irish Film & Television Award The 4th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards 2007 The 4th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards took place in 2007 and were hosted by Ryan Tubridy at the Royal Dublin Society Main Hall, Dublin, Ireland.-Film:Best Film* The Wind That Shakes the Barley ** Breakfast on Pluto... for Best Actor in a Lead Role – Film Nominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association is an organization of film critics operating in metropolitan St. Louis and adjoining areas of Missouri and Illinois which was founded in 2004.... Award for Best Actor |
| 2007 | Seraphim Falls Seraphim Falls Seraphim Falls is a 2007 American Revisionist Western film directed by television producer and director David Von Ancken in his first feature film. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Von Ancken and Abby Everett Jaques. The fictional story focuses on a bounty hunt for a Union... |
Gideon | |
| 2007 | Butterfly on a Wheel Butterfly on a Wheel Butterfly on a Wheel is a 2007 Canadian thriller film directed by Mike Barker, co-produced and written by William Morrissey, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, and Maria Bello... |
Tom Ryan | also producer (US: Shattered, Europe: Desperate Hours) |
| 2007 | Married Life | Richard Langley | |
| 2008 | Mamma Mia! Mamma Mia! (film) Mamma Mia! is a 2008 musical/romantic comedy film adapted from the 1999 West End/2001 Broadway musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson... |
Sam Carmichael | Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actor of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated. Brooke Shields is the... Nominated — National Movie Award for Best Performance – Male |
| 2008 | Thomas and Friends: The Great Discovery The Great Discovery The Great Discovery is a 2008 film and feature spin-off of the TV series, Thomas and Friends. The film is a follow up, not a direct sequel to Thomas and the Magic Railroad and a sequel to Calling All Engines! The DVD was released on September 9 2008 in the United States and October 6 2008 in the... |
Narrator | Guest role |
| 2009 | The Greatest The Greatest (2009 film) The Greatest is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Shana Feste and starring Pierce Brosnan , Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan, and Michael Shannon.-Plot:... |
Allen Brewer | |
| 2010 | The Ghost Writer | Adam Lang | Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award London Film Critics Circle Awards 2010 The nominees for the 31st London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2010 were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on December 20, 2010.-Actor of the Year:*Jeff Bridges – True Grit*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network... for British Supporting Actor of the Year Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Won – IFTA award's Best Supporting Actor for "The Ghost Writer" |
| 2010 | Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a 2010 fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus. The film is loosely based on The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan... |
Chiron Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.-History:Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents... |
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| 2010 | Remember Me Remember Me (2010 film) Remember Me is a 2010 American romantic coming of age drama film directed by Allen Coulter, and screenplay by Will Fetters. It stars Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, and Pierce Brosnan.-Plot:... |
Charles Hawkins | |
| 2010 | Oceans Oceans (2009 film) Oceans is a 2009 French nature documentary film by Jacques Perrin distributed in the United States by Disneynature. It was released on April 22, 2010 in 1,200 theaters in the US for Earth Day. The film explores Earth's five oceans. It is Disneynature's third release following Earth and The Crimson... |
Narrator | English-language narrator |
| 2011 | Salvation Boulevard Salvation Boulevard Salvation Boulevard is a 2011 comedy-drama film with religious undertones. It is based on the novel of the same name by Larry Beinhart.-Plot:... |
Dan Day | |
| 2011 | I Don't Know How She Does It I Don't Know How She Does It I Don't Know How She Does It is a 2011 American comedy film based on Allison Pearson's novel of the same name. The film stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, and Greg Kinnear about Kate Reddy, a financial executive and the breadwinner of her family.... |
Jack Abelhammer |