Biography of Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan is one of the best 007 agents, a modern gentleman, an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a Hollywood handsome man, for whom the third generation of fans of his acting talent sighs. An artist and producer, a father of many children and a loving husband, Brosnan is still actively working in cinema, producing documentaries and feature films, and writing memoirs.
Pictured: Pierce Brosnan
Childhood: Drogheda – Navan – London
It cannot be said that the childhood of the future cinema star was happy. Born in May 1953 in the family of a carpenter and a nurse, the boy, to put it mildly, was not expected. The Irish port city of Drogheda did not contribute to family well-being and Thomas, the baby’s father, decided that he had had enough of crying and lack of sleep at night. Having abandoned his wife and child, who was not even a year old, the young father disappeared from their lives.
Pierce Brosnan in childhood and now
May Brosnan, leaving the one-year-old Pierce in the care of her parents, went to London, where she hoped to establish a personal life. The work of a nurse in the hospital did not make it possible to often see his son, who, after the death of his grandparents, first migrated to his aunt, then to his uncle, who handed over the boy to the church school of the Brothers in Christ. Pierce still remembers his stay at the boarding house with a shudder: not only did he always feel lonely, the fidget was often punished with rods for the slightest infractions.
Young Pierce Brosnan
Meanwhile, the boy’s mother remarried. The new husband agreed to take the stepson into the family. Eleven-year-old Pierce’s hot dream finally came true, he moved to the big city and reunited with his mother. London struck the boy not only with its splendor and power, but also with harsh morals. Everything had to be fought for. And Pierce fought: either for a bottle of morning milk with a neighbor boy, or for a girl from a school that he really liked …
Youth: England – America
On the eve of his 16th birthday, Brosnan left school and plunged into an independent life: he worked part-time in the circus, became an illustrator, and then a photographer. When he was offered a small role in the Oval House Experimental Theater, he happily accepted. All this time, Pierce was saving money for his studies, and when the necessary amount was accumulated, the young man became a student at the London Dramatic Art Training Center, which he successfully graduated in three years.
After school, Pierce became a student at the London Training Center for Dramatic Arts.
The professional London scene welcomed the handsome and talented actor in 1976. Over the course of four years, Brosnan played many classic roles, and was especially noted for his interpretations of Shakespeare. Pulitzer laureate Thomas Williams was so shocked by Pierce’s brilliant performance in one of the performances based on his play that he sent him a telegram of thanks. Her actor carefully keeps in a frame, as the first recognition of his talent.
Along with work in the theater, Brosnan was involved in television projects and episodic roles in the films “Carpathian Eagle”, “The Mirror Cracked”, “Long Good Friday”. The talent and excellent external data of the actor became a decisive factor in choosing a candidate for the lead role of Rory Manion in the drama about Irish emigrants Manions in America. Pierce met on the set with the then-famous actors Simon McCorkindale, Linda Pearl, Peter Gilmour, Kate Mulgrew. The epic drama was the first step on the road to fame.
Career: America – Hollywood
After the release of The Manions on the screens, Brosnan was invited to play the lead role in the detective television series Remington Steele, which allowed Pierce, who was married at the time, to move his family to the United States. Five years of filming strengthened the financial position and gave new leading roles – anthropologist Jean Charles Pommier in the horror film Nomads (1986), Russian agent Valery Petrovsky in the thriller The Fourth Protocol (1987), company chairman Jan Dunross in the action drama The Noble House (1988), tax collector William Savage in the thriller Stranglers. The poor boy from the Irish boarding house was filmed annually, sometimes in parallel in two or three films.
Pierce Brosnan in the series Remington Steele
An undoubted career breakthrough was for Brosnan the role of Dr. Lawrence Angelo in the fantasy melodramatic horror film The Lawnmower Man. The film was a huge success at the box office.
Shot from the film “The Lawnmower Man”
1993 brought the actor four roles at once in films of various genres and degrees of popularity. Two more – 1994. However, all this time, starting in 1989, when Brosnan met one of the Bond producers, Pierce patiently waited for the role of James Bond, which Roger Moore played under the contract for more than ten years, and before that, Sean Connery was 007 for a long time. . Even Timothy Dalton (Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre) managed to be Bond once.
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
But the long-awaited 1995 came and the audience accepted the new super agent with admiration – the elegant, slender handsome Pierce Brosnan, so unlike any of the previous Bonds. The box office performance for GoldenEye exceeded all expectations, and the lead actor won the Saturn Award for Best Movie Actor. The following parts of the Bond movie with Brosnan (“Tomorrow Never Dies”, “The World Is Not Enough”, “Die Another Day”) were also successful and generous in box office and nominations. By his 50th birthday, Pierce had become a millionaire.
Work in the “Bond” did not become an obstacle to the actor’s cinematic industriousness. Among the roles of that period are Professor Donald Kessler from the comedy fantasy thriller Mars Attacks!, where he starred with Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close, and Alex from the comedy melodrama The Mirror Has Two Faces with the inimitable Barbara Streisand and Jeff Bridges, and the scientist Volcanologist Harry Dalton from the adventure action movie “Dante’s Peak”, and Robinson Crusoe from the film of the same name, and the Canadian hunter Archie from the western “Grey Owl”.
The 2000s revealed Brosnan as a great comedian as Andrew Osnard in the dramatic comedy The Tailor of Panama and Daniel Refferty in The Laws of Attraction, as well as a brilliant dramatic actor who played the unemployed Desmond Doyle in the film Evelyn.
Together with Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson, Pierce starred in the action comedy After Sunset, with Liam Neeson in the military drama Angel Falls, with Gerard Butler in the thriller Ransom.
Brosnan himself fondly recalls shooting in the musical “Mamma Mia!”, In which he became friends with the amazing actress Meryl Streep. The role of Adam Lang in the dramatic detective thriller of the cult Roman Polanski “Ghost” became memorable for him. The melodrama “Love is all you need” is dear to the actor because he managed to expose the social problems of society, once again remind the viewer of family values.
Brosnan showed his acting demand in such films as November Man (2014), How to Make Love English (2014), Artificial Intelligence. Access is unlimited” (2016), “Foreigner” (2017). In the last picture, Pierce’s partner on the set was the legendary Jackie Chan.
Pierce Brosnan’s personal life
Brosnan was twice recognized as the most handsome man in the United States, but the actor himself treats his own appearance without reverence, even with a bit of humor, because he considers it more of a tool for work. The actor is sure that handsome men are faithful and reliable partners, which he proved in practice both in his first marriage and in his second. Pearce first married in 1980 to Cassandra Harris, with whom he played together on one of the London stages. He was immensely happy when their common first-born Sean was born, but before that he had adopted Charlotte and Christopher, the children of the actress from her first marriage. A terrible blow for the Brosnans was the diagnosis of doctors – Cassandra was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. Pierce admitted in an interview:
In December 1991, my wife Cassandra died of cancer – we fought for her for four years. I will never forget that terrible period, I so wanted to do everything possible and impossible for Cassie so that she would live. I was always by her side, hoping that a miracle would happen. The only thing that somehow supported me at that time was painting, somehow dulling the constant pain. I could not work at all, only my sketches and paintings saved me. When Cassandra died, it seemed that life had completely lost its meaning.
After the death of his wife, Brosnan worked twenty hours a day, trying to drown out the pain of loss. Hollywood beauties, who opened the hunt for a widower, were disappointed – Pierce did not pay any attention to their attempts to get closer.
Pierce Brosnan and Casandra Harris
Only the journalist Keely Shay Smith managed to melt the ice, who did not demand anything from her lover, she was simply always there. For a long time, Brosnan postponed the wedding, even the birth of baby Dylan in 1997 did not move him to enter into an official marriage. Keely and Pierce got married only in 2001, when their second son Paris was born, and since then no one and nothing can turn the actor away from his second wife.
Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shay Smith
Pierce Brosnan now
Still the same active and peppy sixty-five-year-old Hollywood handsome man, Brosnan continues his film career. 2018 was marked by four roles at once – Malloy in the crime thriller “On the Edge of Madness / Spinning Man”, Dimitri in the action movie “The Final Score”, Eli McCullough in the western “Son” and Sam in the sequel “Mamma Mia!” -2. Although Pierce received the Golden Raspberry for his role in the first film, but when he heard that his girlfriend Meryl agreed to shoot the sequel, he immediately agreed himself.
In addition, Pierce is working on a book of memoirs, although he admits that the matter is new to him and thoughts jump around the room with him as he recalls this or that moment from his life before writing it down. The actor is seriously engaged in producing documentaries. Here his main assistant is his wife Kili, who has already shot one film on her own called “Poisoned Paradise”. A personal exhibition of Brosnan’s paintings in Paris is under preparation. The actor is in a panic about how his work will be perceived, but Keely knows that her husband is very talented and the exhibition will be a success. When asked about his future plans, Pierce jokes that retirement is just around the corner, and on it it will be possible to draw as much as you like and help your beloved wife with work in the garden.
