how did you deal with loss faith faith you know I’m I’m Irish i’m

Catholic the church has been a big part of my life pierce Brosman just made an

announcement that nobody saw coming at 71 the former James Bond is preparing

for the worst his first wife died of ovarian cancer at 43 then his daughter

died of the same disease at 41 now something has happened that’s

forcing him to face his deepest fear the man who played the world’s toughest spy

is dealing with a battle he can’t win and what he’s planning to do next has

everyone worried pierce Brozen was born on May 16th

1953 in Droada Ireland he didn’t come into the world with much no wealth no

family legacy and as it turned out no father his dad a carpenter named Thomas

disappeared so early in Pierce’s life that he couldn’t remember his face voice

or even his presence it was like he had vanished into thin air his mother May

was left to carry the weight she worked as a nurse holding together a life that

had already begun to fall apart but in 1957 she made a painful choice she left

for London to find work leaving 4-year-old Pierce behind in Ireland she

had no other option still that decision created another hole in Pierce’s young

world what was meant to be a short separation turned into seven long years

during that time he was passed around between relatives first with his

grandparents in Naven then an uncle and aunt in Trim each new house came with

new rules new schools and unfamiliar faces pierce never stayed long enough to

belong he learned to keep quiet to observe to survive he was always the new

kid always the outsider teachers noticed something in him he was bright but

withdrawn always looking out the window never quite present then everything

changed in 1964 at age 11 he moved to Green

Scotland his mother had remarried her new husband William Carmichael worked in

a factory he was kind and patient but for a boy who had grown up without

consistency this new home brought mixed emotions pierce felt torn he was happy

to see his mother again but angry too and now she had someone else a new man

in her life a man who wasn’t his father still William tried he taught PICE small

things fishing fixing things how to trust again he never pushed too hard he

never tried to replace anyone one day William took Pierce to the cinema it was

1964 and the movie was Goldfinger shan Connory as James Bond

lit up the screen that night changed everything bond wasn’t just a character

to Pierce he was the opposite of everything Pierce had felt bond was strong bond was confident bond was in

control and Pierce wanted to be just like that by age 16 Pierce made another

bold move he dropped out of school in London and enrolled in St martin’s School of Art he didn’t have money or a

clear plan just a passion for painting he loved the work of Francis Bacon and

Lucien Freud back then acting wasn’t even on his mind his focus was

illustration and design he survived on toast and tea while his classmates came

from wealthier homes he was determined to prove he belonged but fate had other

plans in 1971 while still studying art PICE stumbled into a theater workshop in

South London he saw a fire eater practicing his act instead of walking

away Pierce asked if he could try that one spontaneous moment rewrote his

future the group noticed something in him a mix of bravery and natural

presence they invited him to join he had never acted before but now everything

started to click just like Bond he had entered a world of risk and charm

soon after Pierce joined the drama center London for 3 years from 1973 to

1976 he trained harder than ever before the school was intense more than 60% of

students dropped out the teachers were tough they broke students down to rebuild them some quit some had

breakdowns but Pierce pushed through he worked side jobs he studied Shakespeare

he even trained in mime and circus acts it cost £1,200 a year a fortune back then but

Pierce never gave up in 1976 he got his first real break a stage play called

Wait Until Dark it was a thriller and Pierce played a character that made

people uncomfortable the director saw something cold in him something

unsettling that edge worked a year later he took on

a bold role in a difficult Tennessee Williams play The Red Devil Battery Sign

the play had flopped in America but Pierce brought it to life in London

critics praised his performance suddenly people were noticing he moved to film

next in 1980 he had a Blink and You Miss It role in The Mirror Cracked alongside

Elizabeth Taylor he was on screen for less than 30 seconds he earned just 50

lbs but it was a start that same year he appeared in The Long Good Friday with

Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins he played a minor IRA character the movie wasn’t a

hit right away but over time it became a cult classic and there Pierce was

quietly building his path to stardom in 1982 Pierce Brosman was barely known

outside of the UK he had done some British TV and theater work but nothing

major then something unexpected happened he auditioned for a small role on a new

show called Remington Steel not as the lead but as a murder victim that could

have been it one scene and done but NBC’s casting director saw something in

him they saw charm screen presence something magnetic so they called him

back not for a minor part but for the lead role that decision changed

everything the original plan for Remington Steel was a seasoned American con man in his 50s broen was 29 young

Irish and unknown in the United States still the producers took a gamble over

200 actors auditioned many of them well-known Americans broen got the role

his Irish accent almost cost him the part executives feared American viewers wouldn’t accept a foreign lead but once

he stepped into the role he was Remington Steel cool smooth mysterious

and audiences loved him for it the show premiered on October 1st

1982 right out of the gate it was a hit nbc’s second highest rated new series in

its first year alone 15.6 million people tuned in each week but it wasn’t a

smooth ride the show was actually cancelled after its fourth season in

1986 fans were furious the studio changed its mind it came back for one

last run the final episode aired in February 1987 and drew nearly 26 million

viewers that’s the kind of sendoff most shows only dream of at its peak

Remington Steel was making NBC over $50 million a year just from

advertising international sales added another $200 million the show aired in

more than 80 countries and something strange happened in America between 1983

and 1987 applications for private detective licenses jumped by

340% broman’s cool clever character had clearly struck a nerve but success came

with a price only 2 months after the show started airing critics were already

saying Brosman should be the next James Bond in January 1983 Entertainment

Weekly called him the most Bondlike actor since Sha Connory just a few

months later Bond producer Albert Cubby Broccoli reached out he was watching and

he was interested by 1984 the speculation exploded nbc leaned into it

their marketing hinted at Brozen’s secret agent vibe tv Guide ran a cover

with him asking the next07 even Ian Fleming’s widow Anne

Fleming publicly said that Brozen looked and acted exactly like what her husband

had envisioned for Bond at the same time Brosman was getting serious critical

recognition that same year he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Nancy Aster it was only his

second major TV role he was up against legends Anthony Hopkins John Gilgood

still Brosman nearly won industry insiders said he lost by just three

votes his performance impressed even the real Aster family who had originally

opposed the series his Bond journey though wasn’t going to be simple most

people think he was first offered bond in 1985 not true he was actually considered

for the role in 1983 For a View to a Kill roger Moore was unsure about doing

another film and Broen was on deck he’d met Broccoli on the set of For Your Eyes

Only where Broman’s wife Cassandra Harris had a small role broccoli took

one look at him and said “If he can act he’s my guy.” But the studio panicked

they offered Moore a huge payday over $3.5 million to return so Broman’s shot

was delayed again then in 1986 something

even worse happened remington Steel had been cancelled but when word got out that Brazen might be the next Bond the

show’s ratings surged nbc saw a chance they reversed the cancellation and

ordered a short fifth season broman was still under contract that meant he

couldn’t film Bond it was brutal the attention he got from being linked to

Bond was used against him he was stuck and while he finished the final season

of Remington Steel Bond producers moved on timothy Dalton got the role that

moment changed everything for Brazen and for

Bond dalton was Brosman’s friend losing the role hurt but he had to smile

through it dalton’s version of Bond was darker grittier it didn’t go well

license to Kill flopped in the United States making just $34

million broen watched from the sidelines he knew he could have brought something

different between 1986 and 1994 what fans call the lost years

Brozen didn’t disappear he made smart choices in The Fourth Protocol

1987 he played a British spy in a cold war thriller it wasn’t Bond but it was

close he starred in Nomads 1986 showing his range in a supernatural role he even

did Diet Coke commercials where he played a smooth tuxedoed hero a not so

subtle nod to Bond pice Broen met Cassandra Harris in the late

1970s she was already a working actress born Sandra Colleen Weights in Sydney in

1948 when they met the spark was instant

pierce didn’t plan on falling in love he just thought she was beautiful but

something happened soon they were living together in Wimbledon on December 27th

1980 they got married cassandra had just gone through a rough divorce so this new

chapter meant everything to her she had two kids from that marriage Charlotte

and Christopher pierce didn’t hesitate he stepped into their lives like he’d

always belonged when Cassandra’s ex-husband Dermit Harris died of a heart

attack in 1986 Pierce legally adopted the children

they took his name but it was more than paperwork pierce didn’t grow up with a

father himself so he poured everything into being the dad he never had he once

said “I wasn’t a father i was just Pierce and then I became daddy in 1983

Cassandra and Pierce had a son together they named him Shawn that made them five

life felt full and warm the kids got along and Pice’s career was picking up

but family came first he wanted to give them the kind of love he never got growing up he made sure they felt safe

happy and seen something magical happened in 1981 cassandra was cast in the Bond film

For Your Eyes Only she played a Bond girl before Pierce even dreamed of being

0007 but while she was filming Pierce met the Bond producer Albert Broccoli

cassandra believed in him she pushed him to go for the role broccoli was

impressed and considered Pierce as the next Bond but Pierce was stuck in a

contract with Remington Steel he couldn’t take the role not yet cassandra

wanted it for him so badly but she never got to see it happen in

1987 everything changed while Pierce was filming The Deceivers in India Cassandra

started feeling really sick they flew back to London the news was terrible she

had ovarian cancer not just a small lump or something easy to treat it was

everywhere the diagnosis hit like a truck pierce said “From day one we had a

fight on our hands what followed were four brutal years cassandra went through

eight surgeries she had a year and a half of chemotherapy her hair fell out

her body weakened but she stayed strong she questioned every treatment she made

her own decisions she faced it all with courage pierce stood by her the whole

time he called himself the quiet party always present but often helpless their

son Shawn just a little boy would sometimes pretend to be the doctor it

was heartbreaking cassandra’s mother had died of the same cancer it wasn’t just

bad luck it was genetic that made everything even worse now they had to

worry about Charlotte too pierce became an advocate for early testing and

awareness it was too late for Cassandra but he wanted to help others in December

1991 her time ran out one night as they lay in bed Pierce full of grief

Cassandra whispered “Please darling don’t worry it’s just a life winding

down she was still the strong one even at the end she didn’t want machines or

hospitals she wanted dignity she faced death on her terms she died on December

28th 1991 she was only 43 pierce and her son Christopher were

with her charlotte who was away in London studying acting was on the phone

christmas had just passed while others were celebrating Pice was planning a

funeral and then came the hardest part telling 8-year-old Sha that his mother

was gone pierce suddenly had to raise three kids alone shawn was 8 Christopher was

19 and Charlotte was 20 he said it was the first time he had felt real grief it

overwhelmed him but he kept going he said “Cassandra made him who he was.”

“She’s forever in every fiber of my being,” he later said pierce Brozn was

finally cast as James Bond in 1994 what made it even more personal was

his wife Cassandra Harris she had been a Bond girl herself in For Your Eyes Only

back in 1981 she had cancer by then and she pushed

him to go for the role again she wanted to see him become 007 before she passed

so when he finally got it it wasn’t just a victory it was heartbreak and triumph

all rolled into one his debut in Golden Eye was a makeorb breakak moment not

just for him but for the whole Bond franchise the film had already burned

through directors and its budget had jumped to $60 million mgm was nearly bankrupt if it

failed Bond would have ended right there but Golden Eye made $353 million

worldwide that tank chase scene through St petersburg alone cost $8 million

broen did 90% of his own stunts including a terrifying bungee jump off a

220 m dam in Switzerland it was so dangerous insurance companies refused to

cover it the film was released exactly 30 years after Shan Connory’s final

official Bond film Diamonds Are Forever it wasn’t just another movie it was a

resurrection and it worked nintendo even created the Golden Eye 0007 video game

because of it that game changed the industry and introduced Bond to a whole

new generation the success didn’t stop there broen’s next three Bond films made

a combined 1.238 billion but those wins came with personal loss when Tomorrow

Never Dies hit in 1997 he was still grieving Cassandra’s death from 6 years earlier he poured

that pain into the character one chase scene in Saigon cost $12 million to film

they had to build an entire Vietnamese street in England just for it the world

is Not Enough in 1999 had Bond’s longest opening sequence 14 minutes it also had

Bond’s first female main villain they even did a real oil pipeline explosion

using 120 gall of gasoline creating a fireball visible from 10 m away then

came Die Another Day in 2002 it celebrated Bond’s 40th anniversary and

nearly killed Brazen a parasuring stunt went wrong and he got pulled underwater

by 30foot waves he ended up in the hospital with hypothermia that same movie featured a

$300,000 invisible Aston Martin and a massive ice palace set in Iceland made

with $1,000 tons of ice but Brosman wasn’t just box office gold he won the

Saturn Award for best actor in 1996 what made it wild was that he beat Sha

Connory who was nominated the same year for The Rock it was the first time a

current Bond outshined a former one even Steven Spielberg called Brazen after

Golden Eye to offer him the role of Indiana Jones broen turned it down to

stay loyal to Bond that decision likely cost him $50 million but it showed how

committed he was to the role everything seemed perfect then came

2004 he was in the Bahamas filming after the sunset life was good he’d done four

Bond films that earned $1.4 billion he was in great shape training pitching

ideas for Bond 21 then at 2:47 p.m his

phone rang the producers cut him loose no warning no explanation the call

lasted 47 seconds you were a great James Bond thank you very much goodbye that

was it what made it colder was how well his films had performed die Another Day

had made $431.9 million the most ever for a Bond movie

at the time but producers had already decided they wanted a younger Bond they

waited until he was alone and vulnerable to deliver the blow in just three days

everything changed three movie deals disappeared studios backed out internal

emails later showed he was seen as too bond and hard to cast in anything else

his asking price dropped from $12 million to $3 million he had to let go

of 12 staff members he went into a deep depression his kids saw him cry when the

Casino Royale trailer came out that moment hit him hard his role had been

handed off without even a goodbye turns out the producers had been screen

testing other actors for two years while pretending they still believed in him that betrayal stung more than the firing

itself but there was something else happening back in 1994 just a few months

before he officially became Bond something unexpected happened on April

8th 7:30 p.m at a beach party in Cabo San Lucas he met Keely Shea Smith she

was a journalist and they clicked right away she wasn’t impressed by the fame

she liked who he was not what he did they talked until 2:00 a.m he flew her

to meet his kids within 3 weeks she moved in 6 months later their connection

was real and years later that relationship became the one thing he could count on when everything else fell

apart in 2001 they got married in Ireland the ceremony cost $2.3

million it was held at Balin Tubber Abbey a church that had been running for

almost 800 years the guest list was tight just 100 people including Judy

Dench and Liam Niss broen wore a traditional Irish kilt he cried when he

saw Keley walk down the aisle charlotte Broen was only 41 when she died in

2013 but her death wasn’t just a tragedy it was the third time this exact

nightmare played out in the same family her grandmother had died of ovarian

cancer so had her mother Cassandra Harris at just 43 and now Charlotte she

was 2 years younger than her mother when the disease took her life charlotte had fought hard for 3 years she battled the

cancer that quietly grew inside her ovarian cancer is called the silent

killer for a reason by the time it’s found it’s often too late in fact 75% of

women are only diagnosed in the late stages where the chances of survival drop from 90% to as low as 20 to

30% charlotte was born in 1971 she lost her biological father

Dermit Harris and was adopted by Pierce Brozen in 1986 he gave her his name his

love and a place in his heart but no amount of love could stop the genetic

curse that had already stolen two generations for Pierce it wasn’t just

about losing his daughter it was about watching history repeat itself in the worst way possible back in 1991 he lost

his wife Cassandra to the same disease she went through eight surgeries and 18

months of chemo he called it life-changing watching someone you love fade away like that piece by piece it

rewires your entire world he said “You’re dealing with death everything

changes.” Then 22 years later the same thing happened to Charlotte at the 2014

Standup to Cancer fundraiser Pierce stood on stage and poured his heart out

he said “I held the generous strong beautiful hand of my first wife Cassie

as ovarian cancer took her life much too soon and just last year I held the hand

of my funny wonderful daughter Charlotte before she too died from this

wretched inherited disease.” It wasn’t just fresh grief it was trauma all over

again deep dark and familiar one of Pierce’s closest friends Bronn

Royance said it best charlotte’s illness came with a darkness pierce was reliving

the whole nightmare he had found love again he had married Keely Sha Smith in

2001 and started a new family with two sons Dylan and Paris but when Charlotte

got sick it all came back every memory every helpless moment he was beyond

devastated Royland said but even in the middle of all that pain Healey stood by

him holding him together and then came the crulest twist charlotte got married

on June 14th 2013 she said “I do.” to Alex Smith her longtime partner 2 weeks

later she was gone june 28th 2013 that Friday afternoon at exactly 200 p.m she

passed away in London she was surrounded by Alex her two children 15-year-old

Isabella and 8-year-old Lucas and her brothers Christopher and Sha she had

been born in London she studied acting there and that’s where her life ended pice released a short statement after

she died charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity courage and

dignity her strength was astonishing even in her final weeks she arranged her

wedding she wanted her children to see that love still mattered her daughter

Isabella was 15 when she lost her mother just like Charlotte had been when Cassandra was diagnosed lucas was eight

the same age Pierce’s son Shawn had been when his mother died the echo of history

was almost too precise too cruel friends said Charlotte was the

kind of mother who put everything into her kids her friend Clare Beckwith remembered her saying she didn’t care

about acting anymore “this is my family,” she said “i want to give them all the love I can.” And just like that

Alex Smith went from newlywed to widowerower in two weeks now he had to

raise two children who had just watched their mother disappear pierce now a grandfather

stepped in grieving all over again but also trying to be strong for the ones

left behind but not all of Charlotte’s siblings found a way to cope christopher

Broen fell hard after Cassandra’s death in 1991 he was only 19 he had promise he

worked on Pierce’s Bond films like Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not

Enough but the pain caught up with him by 1996 he was fined £1,000 for drunk

driving a year later he went to jail for 3 months for doing it again then came

drugs GHB heroin he collapsed outside a London club and slipped into a coma in

2012 at age 32 he was arrested again this time for heroin possession he’d

become part of the Brixton drug scene a long way from Hollywood a long way from

who he used to be in June 2024 Christopher made his first public

appearance in 20 years paparazzi spotted him outside a grocery store in London

gaunt alone 51 years old meanwhile Keely Sha Smith had been fighting her own

battle for years the tabloids mocked her weight they showed before and after

pictures comparing her young body with how she looked after motherhood trolls

flooded the internet pierce wasn’t having it he defended her in a now

famous post i love every curve of her body she is the most beautiful woman in

my eyes and also because she had our five children keely now 61 dropped 100

lb in 2024 no surgery no shortcuts just walking swimming whole foods and

patience most of all self-respect gratitude she wrote online “For all my

body has given and accomplished in 60 years.” In August

2024 she and Pierce celebrated 23 years of marriage 31 years since they met

through tragedy scandal and grief they stayed strong at their anniversary

Pierce called her his north south east and west healey replied “You are the

finest loveliest tenderest person I have ever known.” They were just seen

supporting George Clooney’s Broadway debut in April 2025 keely in a black

lace dress pierce still charming still steady despite everything he keeps

working he was cast as Dr fate in Black Adam in 2022

the director said Pierce had the perfect mix of power and calm at 71 he’s still

one of the coolest men in Hollywood but more than that he’s a fighter he’s used

his pain turned it into purpose he’s an advocate now a UNICEF ambassador since

2001 he’s marched with Greenpeace spoken out against nuclear testing and raised

money for cancer awareness he once boycotted the Golden Eye premier in France to protest nuclear weapons when

Charlotte was sick he said he’d do anything call anyone go anywhere beg if

he had to he just wanted her to live he couldn’t save her but he’s still trying

to save others