Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an Irish-American actor, director, and screenwriter born on March 19, 1928, in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Irish Catholic immigrant parents Thomas and Rose McGoohan. Shortly after his birth, the family returned to Ireland, settling in the Mullaghmore area of Drumreilly, County Leitrim, before relocating to Sheffield, Yorkshire, when McGoohan was seven. He attended St. Marie's School, St. Vincent's School, and De La Salle College in Sheffield, and during World War II was evacuated to Loughborough, where he studied at Ratcliffe College. He left school at sixteen, returning to Sheffield to work as a chicken farmer, bank clerk, and lorry driver before taking a position as a stage manager at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When an actor fell ill, McGoohan stepped in as a replacement, launching his performing career.

His early stage work included a 1955 West End production of Serious Charge, in which he played a Church of England vicar. That same year, Orson Welles cast him as Starbuck in a York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed, and McGoohan later appeared in Welles's film version of the same work. His first television appearance came in 1954, playing Charles Stewart Parnell in an episode of You Are There. He also held an uncredited role in the 1955 film The Dam Busters. After a series of smaller film parts, he was signed to a contract with the Rank Organisation, which cast him primarily in villainous roles in pictures including High Tide at Noon and Hell Drivers, both from 1957. Following disputes with Rank management, the contract was dissolved. Among his most personally significant stage roles was the lead in Henrik Ibsen's Brand, a performance that translator Michael Meyer described as the best and most powerful he had witnessed. McGoohan also played the role in a BBC television production in August 1959, and that production marked his last stage appearance for twenty-eight years.

McGoohan rose to prominence in British television through the ITC/ITV espionage series Danger Man, which debuted in 1960 with McGoohan in the title role of secret agent John Drake. The show ran from 1960 to 1968, and during its peak McGoohan was the highest-paid actor on British television. He won the 1960 BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for his work on the series. He had been among the actors considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No but declined on moral grounds. He similarly declined the role of Simon Templar in The Saint. After completing the only two color episodes of Danger Man, McGoohan informed producer Lew Grade that he would leave the role, and instead pitched a new project: a series about a secret agent who resigns and is abducted to a surreal resort community. That project became The Prisoner, which aired in 1967 and 1968. McGoohan served as executive producer, forming Everyman Films with producer David Tomblin, and wrote and directed multiple episodes, at times using pseudonyms. The series, filmed primarily at the Italianate village of Portmeirion in Gwynedd, Wales, starred McGoohan as the unnamed Number Six and developed a lasting cult following.

His film credits span several decades and include Ice Station Zebra (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Brass Target (1978), The Man in the Iron Mask (1978), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Scanners (1981), Braveheart (1995), and A Time to Kill (1996). Beginning in the 1970s, McGoohan maintained an extensive association with the television series Columbo, contributing as a writer, director, producer, and actor across multiple episodes. He twice received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his Columbo appearances.

After a twenty-eight-year absence from the stage, McGoohan returned to theater with his 1985 Broadway appearance in Pack of Lies. The production earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play. McGoohan died on January 13, 2009.