Actors - Pierce Brosnan

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	Actors - Pierce Brosnan

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

Early life

Born an only child in the Republic of Ireland in Drogheda, County Louth, Brosnan lived in nearby Navan, County Meath. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and would later condemn their brutality. Brosnan's mother moved to London for work after his father abandoned the family; in 1964, at the age of 11, he joined her. His mother subsequently divorced his father and married a Scottish World War II veteran who was quickly embraced as a father figure by his young stepson. He trained as an actor at the Drama Centre, London.

Career

In the early-1980s, he became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America, which he followed in 1982 by playing the title role in the high-rated NBC detective series Remington Steele. He was actually offered the job as James Bond before the Remington Steele series could be completed, but Brosnan was unable to break the contract with the producers.

James Bond

In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role, Timothy Dalton was offered the role of James Bond once again after previously having turned it down when Sean Connery left the role in 1967. The 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr, however, kept Dalton from being able to immediately accept the role. A number of actors were then screentested for the role, notably Sam Neill, but ultimately were passed over by Cubby Broccoli. Brosnan (whose Remington Steele series had just ended), was offered the role, but publicity revived the Remington Steele programme and forced Brosnan to back out of the role due to his contract with the show. Dalton then became available and accepted the role. Dalton's second turn as 007 Licence to Kill
(1989) was a disappointment at the American box office, and legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady) and would put the series in a six-year hiatus. During that time, Dalton acted upon a clause in his contract and resigned, which left the door open for Brosnan, in 1994.

Brosnan's appointment as Bond brought things full circle for the actor, who stated in interviews that the very first movie he ever saw was Goldfinger
and that Sean Connery's performance as Bond inspired him to enter show business.

Aware of the danger of being typecast as James Bond, Brosnan asked EON Productions, when accepting the role, to be allowed to work in other projects between Bond series films. The request was granted, and for every Bond series film, Brosnan appeared in at least two mainstream films, including several he had produced. For a time, rumour was that Brosnan's Bond contract forbade him from wearing a dinner suit in any non-Bond film; that rumour was false. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in-between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a nerdy scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! to Canadian conservationist Grey Owl in the biopic of the same name.

Brosnan was signed for a four-film deal and first appeared as agent 007 in 1995's GoldenEye
to much critical praise. GoldenEye more than doubled the gross of Dalton's previous film in worldwide ticket box office sales. Pierce returned as Bond in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies
and 1999's The World Is Not Enough
to virtually the same success. In 2002 Brosnan appeared for his fourth and final time as the super suave secret agent in Die Another Day
, which, while controversial to fans as being perhaps one of the weaker entries in the series, shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and is currently the highest grossing Bond film ever (although not with inflation counted.)

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Actors - Pierce Brosnan

Early life

Career

James Bond

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