Biography

On December 28, 1991, one day after their 11th wedding anniversary, his wife, Cassandra Harris, died in his arms. She died of ovarian cancer. Sadly, the same disease would claim the life of Harris' daughter (and Brosnan's stepdaughter) Charlotte in 2013.

Brosnan's mother, May Smith, was 19 when she gave birth to him. She had married his father, Thomas, on August 16, 1952. However, his parents separated when he was still a baby, and from the age of 4 he was raised by his maternal grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith, while his mother went to London to train as a nurse. When he was 6, both grandparents died and he was passed around amongst relatives until Eileen Reilly took him into her lodging house. Finally, when he was 10, his mother was able to take him to her home in Putney, London. While in London, May had met a man, named Bill Carmichael, who had asked her to marry him, but she wanted approval from her son. Pierce gave his approval and the couple were married. From that point on, Bill treated Pierce as his real son and they got along fine. It was Bill who took Pierce to see his first Bond movie, Goldfinger (1964), and it was at that point that decided to take up acting.

After the release of Die Another Day (2002), he was approached by a man in a Dublin bar who asked to shake his hand. He complied and then cracked up when the man said, "That's the closest my hand will ever get to Halle Berry's arse [butt].".

At the age of 11, he was almost six feet tall, making him a target of bullies.

He adopted his first wife Cassandra Harris' children, Charlotte Brosnan (b. 1971, d. 2013) and Christopher Brosnan (b. 1973), after their father died in 1986.

[on his marriage to Cassandra Harris] Our marriage gives me a stability that makes me feel that I can tackle the world.

[on his good looks] I don't see myself as the "Hunk of the Month".

[about his deceased wife, Cassandra Harris] Cassie has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am. She's forever embedded in every fiber of my being.

[on why he thinks he would have regretted winning the James Bond role in 1986] It's a role better suited to someone who is in his 40s, old enough to have the confidence and the sophistication and strength to be able to stand there and just let the moment sit. Bond is a man with the greatest of confidence. And playing that takes practice. In 1986 I think I was 33 or something like that, and I still looked like a baby. Finally, I'm growing into this face of mine. That takes time.

[about the movie industry] There's too many people in seats of power who just haven't got a clue what they're doing. They're bean counters, and it just pisses me off because consequently our kids go to see this crap movie . . . there's nothing with meaningfulness.