Book excerpt: Pierce Brosnan was first offered the part of Bond in 1986, only to be prevented from taking it by contractual obligations to the television series Remington Steele. It wasn't until 1995 that he burst onto the big screen as the legendary James Bond in Goldeneye. To many, it was a part he was born to play. Brosnan decided to become an actor after seeing Goldfinger when he was ten, he married an ex-Bond girl and seems to have just the right combination of good looks, charm and single-mindedness for which James Bond was famed.