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Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Smith were on a morning bike ride around their neighbourhood in Malibu, California, when they spontaneously reached out and held hands as they pedalled.

The moment, captured by a photographer, was a typical display of affection between the former James Bond actor and his wife, who have just celebrated 25 years together.

Film audiences can’t help but view actors as being something like their stage and screen characters. But that would be a big mistake in the case of Irish-born Brosnan, 65, who played the love’em-and-leave’em spy in four Bond films.