Pierce Brosnan and family
Pierce Brosnan had a few brushes with Bond before he slipped into the role: He was offered the part in 1986, but his Remington Steele contract prevented him from accepting it. (Interest in Brosnan as Bond actually persuaded NBC to extend the show even after it was canceled, forcing the actor to come back to television.) And one of the Bond girls in For Your Eyes Only was Cassandra Harris — who had married Brosnan six months before the movie came out. Brosnan met producer Albert Broccoli while visiting his wife on set. She died of cancer in 1991 and never got to see Brosnan make his Bond debut.
(MORE: The Top 10 Bond Girls)