Jim Brass | |
---|---|
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation character | |
First appearance | "Pilot" |
Last appearance | "Immortality" |
Portrayed by | Paul Guilfoyle |
City |
New Jersey Las Vegas |
Information | |
Occupation | Crime Scene Investigator Homicide Captain Private Security Officer |
Rank | Director of the Las Vegas Crime Lab Homicide Detective Eclipse Security Guard |
Duration | 2000–14, 2015 |
Seasons | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 |
Other Appearances | Immortality |
James "Jim" Brass is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Paul Guilfoyle. He made his first screen appearance in the show's pilot, broadcast on October 6, 2000. He was credited in 317 episodes. Guilfoyle's departure was announced in March 2014 and his character left on May 7, 2014.
The character appeared in every episode during his run, with the exception of "Felonious Monk" from season two, "Gum Drops" and "The Unusual Suspect" from season six, "Leaving Las Vegas" from season seven, "Blood Moon", "All That Cremains" and "Cello and Goodbye" from season eleven and "Bittersweet", "Seeing Red", "Malice in Wonderland" and "Dune and Gloom" from season twelve, "Wild Flowers" and "Dead Air" from season thirteen, "Last Supper", "Killer Moves", "Consumed" from season fourteen. He appeared in 303 episodes.
On March 24, 2014 it was announced that Jim would be leaving CSI: Crime Scene Investigation by the end of season 14. Guilfoyle was written out of the show after the producers decided to end his character's storyline. The actor found out that he would not be returning for the fifteenth season the week before the announcement. Executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Don McGill stated "In a show about forensics, fans always looked forward to the handcuffs coming out, and Capt. Brass putting his spin on the crime of the week, just as Paul Guilfoyle put his indelible stamp on the character and the show. He will be missed." Jim left the team on May 7, 2014 but returned for the series finale in season 15.
Brass enlisted in the United States Marine Corps fresh out of high school and did two tours of duty in the Vietnam War. He graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in history. After the war, he joined the Newark Police. Brass spent 20 years working his way up to homicide detective in Newark, New Jersey. Before he became a homicide detective, he was assigned to Vice. While working in Vice, he worked hard to clean up his department, earning the enmity of many of his former colleagues (and the nickname "Squeaky", as in "squeaky clean"). Brass, under stress, sometimes drank and would cover it up by popping cough drops to hide the smell of alcohol on his breath (episode 415, "Early Rollout"). While his wife Nancy was having an affair with Vice cop Mike O'Toole, Brass was busy with his own affair with another member of the vice squad, Annie Kramer, who later moved to Los Angeles and was promoted to captain. Brass claims later that it was Nancy's affair that ruined their marriage, rather than the other way around, and that she eventually just wanted a way out (episode 520, "Hollywood Brass"). Brass transferred out of New Jersey in the 1990s and came to Las Vegas.