PIERCE BROSNAN BIOGRAPHY
Born on 16th May 1953 in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland
Pierce Brosnan entered show business as a teen runaway, working with the circus as a fire eater. He gained somewhat more conventional experience as a member of an experimental London theater workshop before making his stage debut in a 1976 production of Wait Until Dark. Brosnan’s theatrical breakthrough came from playwright Tennessee Williams who chose the handsome young actor to create the role of McCabe in the British premiere of his Red Devil Battery Sign. Additional stage work followed before his film debut in a character turn in the well-received Brit gangster film, The Long Good Friday (1981).
America first discovered the slender, dark-haired performer on TV in the miniseries The Manions of America (ABC, 1981) as Rory O’Manion, an Irish immigrant who makes it big in 19th century America. This successful exposure lead to his being cast as Steele. Brosnan turned up on a number of specials during the series’ run and one failed feature, Nomads (1986), in which he played a bedeviled French anthropologist.
The transition to film actor proved difficult, but TV offered regular work in telefilms and miniseries. Brosnan was well cast as urbane eccentric Phineas Fogg in a miniseries adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days (NBC, 1989). He became a familiar face in made-for-cable thrillers, notably playing special agent Mike Graham in Alistair MacLean’s Death Train (USA, 1993) and Alistair MacLean’s Night Watch (USA, 1995).
Brosnan initially found little success in features. He starred in the poorly received Ismail Merchant-produced adventure The Deceivers (1988) but received some positive notices for his portrayal of a Russian agent opposite Michael Caine in The Fourth Protocol (1987). He enjoyed a measure of popular success playing a scientist in the derivative special F/X fest, The Lawnmower Man (1992). Brosnan also played the supporting role of Stu, the other man, in the immensely successful if mild comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). His subsequent casting as the English secret agent ensured a renewed career as a feature lead.
Pierce Brosnan was married to actress Cassandra Harris from the 1970s until her death in 1991 of ovarian cancer. Harris had a unique Bond girl connection having played Countess Lisl in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only.
Off-hand charm and self-deprecating comic timing were two of the qualities this dashing Irish-born leading man brought to his winning portrayal of the sophisticated, often inept, con man/private investigator Remington Steele on the long-running TV series (NBC, 1982-87) of the same name. Brosnan, a former commercial illustrator who has garnered frequent comparisons to Cary Grant, became so popular in this role that he was selected by readers polled by a national magazine as the favored actor to replace the departing Roger Moore in the highly profitable James Bond series. However, contractual obligations to Remington Steele made him unavailable and the baton was passed to Timothy Dalton. Brosnan finally received his cinematic license to kill in 1994 when he was named as the new 007. He proved an elegant yet hard-edged Bond in GoldenEye (1995).
OTHER JAMES BOND ACTOR PROFILES
James Bond Actors: Sean Connery Biography
Sean Connery’s humble beginnings, growing up in a working class neighborhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, gave no indication of the achievements that were destined to come. Sean was born into a working class family on 25th August 1930. The oldest of two boys, he spent much of his youth working at menial jobs, just to get […]
James Bond Actors: George Lazenby Biography
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James Bond Actors: Roger Moore Biography
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James Bond Actors: Timothy Dalton Biography
TIMOTHY DALTON BIOGRAPHY Born on 21st March 1946 in Colwyn Bay, Wales, UK At a consistently lean 6’2,” green-eyed Timothy Dalton may very well be one of the last of the dying breed of swashbuckling, classically trained Shakespearean actors who have simultaneously forged successful careers in theatre, television and film. He has been comparison-shopped […]
James Bond Actors: Daniel Craig Biography
DANIEL CRAIG BIOGRAPHY Born on 2nd March 1968 in Chester, Cheshire, England, UK Like fellow Bond star, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig was brought up reasonably modestly, however in neighbouring country, England, rather more precisely, Prescot, near Liverpool. The son of a steel erector and an art teacher, Craig soon became known for his acting […]
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