He’s the stuff of many women’s dreams. So it comes as no surprise that ruggedly handsome and charismatic actor Pierce Brosnan has just been voted the Sexiest Man Alive by US magazine People.
Now is not a time for dangerous bad boys whom we wouldn’t dare bring home to meet Mother, says the magazine. It went on to define the qualities which helped the 48-year-old Bond star land the title as confidence, compassion and a firm belief in commitment. All of which the dashing Irishman apparently possesses in spades.
Likening her Thomas Crown Affair co-star to Cary Grant, Rene Russo says: “He’s genuine, he’s gorgeous and he’s also funny.” Fellow actress Jamie Lee Curtis agrees, describing Pierce as “gentle, warm and compassionate”, and adds: “There’s a lot of arrogance in show business, and Pierce seems to have none of that.”
A passionate environmental campaigner and spokesperson for ovarian cancer research, a disease from which his first wife died, Pierce is actively involved in numerous social appeals. “What’s most compelling is the depth of his commitment to so many causes,” says Barbra Streisand, with whom he starred in The Mirror Has Two Faces.
While there are distinct similarities between Pierce’s on-screen character and the man himself – “He has all the sensibilities of his character,” says James Bond co-producer Barbara Broccoli. “He also has the rugged good looks and the charm. He’s manly” – he has nothing in common with the secret agent’s romantic exploits.
Pierce is very much a one-woman kind of guy. When his first wife, Cassandra Harris, died in December 1991, the actor was devastated. Trying to come to terms with the pain of her loss, he threw himself into his work, devoting his free time to their children.
Two years later, on a trip to Mexico he met Keely Shaye Smith, an American reporter. The couple, who have two children together, were married in a romantic ceremony in Ireland on August 4, 2001. “I found a great woman in Keely Shaye,” he says. “Not if I searched a million times over would I find one as good.”
Happily married, the 007 star is also very much a devoted dad to his kids – Sean, by his first wife Cassandra, her son Christopher, whom he later adopted, and his and Keely Shaye’s sons Dylan and Paris Beckett. The role of family man certainly seems to boost his attraction. “When you meet him, he’ll immediately start talking about his kids and about Keely,” says co-star Julianna Margulies, who plays his love interest in the upcoming film Evelyn. “And when you see a gorgeous man holding hands with his wife and holding his baby, there’s nothing more sexy in the world.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
