Patrick Magee

Patrick George Magee (né McGee, 31 March 1922 – 14 August 1982) was an Irish actor and theatre director. He was noted for his collaborations with playwrights Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter (being sometimes described as "Beckett's favourite actor") as well as for creating the role of the Marquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions of Marat/Sade.

Known for his distinctive voice, he also appeared in numerous horror films and in two Stanley Kubrick films – A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975) – and three Joseph Losey films – The Criminal (1960), The Servant (1963) and Galileo (1975). He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1964 to 1970.

After Magee's death, critic Antonia Quirke described him as "a presence so full of strangeness and charisma and difference and power", while scholar Conor Carville wrote that Magee was an "avant-garde bad-boy" and a "very important and unjustly forgotten figure who represents an important aspect of the cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s in Britain".

Early life McGee (he changed the spelling of his surname to Magee when he began performing, most likely to avoid confusion with another actor) was born into a middle-class Catholic family at 2 Edward Street, Armagh, County Armagh. The eldest of five children, he was educated at St. Patrick's Grammar School.

Career

Stage His first stage experience in Ireland was with Anew McMaster's touring company, performing the works of Shakespeare. It was here that he first worked with Pinter. He was then brought to London by Tyrone Guthrie for a series of Irish plays. He met Beckett in 1957 and soon recorded passages from the novel, Molloy, and the short story, From an Abandoned Work, for BBC radio. Impressed by "the cracked quality of Magee's distinctly Irish voice," Beckett requested copies of the tapes and wrote Krapp's Last Tape especially for the actor. First produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 28 October 1958, the play starred Magee, directed by Donald McWhinnie. A televised version with Magee directed by McWhinnie was later broadcast by BBC2 on 29 November 1972. Beckett's biographer Anthony Cronin wrote that "there was a sense in which, as an actor, he had been waiting for Beckett as Beckett had been waiting for him."

In 1964, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, after Pinter, directing his own play The Birthday Party, specifically requested him for the role of McCann, and stated he was the strongest in the cast. In 1965 he portrayed the Marquis de Sade in Peter Brook's production of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade, and when the play transferred to Broadway he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Death A heavy drinker, Magee died from a heart attack at his flat in Fulham, southwest London, on 14 August 1982, at the age of 60, according to obituaries in The Glasgow Herald and The New York Times. His final role was in an episode of Play for Today which aired on 14 December 1982, three months after his death.

Legacy Conor Carville, of the University of Reading, wrote of Magee:

Partial stage credits

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1960 The Criminal Barrows Alternative title: The Concrete Jungle 1961 Rag Doll Flynn Alternative title: Young, Willing and Eager Never Back Losers Ben Black 1962 The Boys Mr Lee A Prize of Arms RSM Hicks 1963 Ricochet Inspector Cummins The Young Racers Sir William Dragonet The Very Edge Simmonds The Servant Bishop Dementia 13 Justin Caleb Dr. Morisijus 1964 Zulu Surgeon James Henry Reynolds Séance on a Wet Afternoon Walsh The Masque of the Red Death Alfredo1965 Portrait in Terror Mauricio ZaroniRe-edited version of Operation: Titian The Skull Police Surgeon Die, Monster, Die! Dr Henderson Alternative title: Monster of Terror1966Blood BathLinda's HusbandUncredited; re-used footage from Operation: Titian 1967 Marat/Sade Marquis de Sade 1968 Anzio Major-General Starkey Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher Lunatic Prisoner The Birthday Party Shamus McCann 1969 Hard Contract Alexi 1970 Cromwell Hugh Peter You Can't Win 'Em All Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 1971 King Lear Cornwall The Trojan Women Menelaus A Clockwork Orange Frank Alexander 1972 Tales from the Crypt George Carter Segment: "Blind Alleys" The Fiend Minister Alternative title: Beware My Brethren Asylum Dr. Rutherford Young Winston Gen. Bindon Blood Pope Joan Elder Monk Demons of the Mind Falkenberg 1973 And Now the Screaming Starts! Dr. Whittle Lady Ice Paul BoothThe Final Programme Dr. Baxter Alternative title: The Last Days of Man on Earth 1974 Luther Hans Luther Simona Le père 1975 Galileo Cardinal Bellarmin Barry Lyndon The Chevalier du Balibari 1977 Telefon Gen. Strelsky 1979 The Brontë Sisters Patrick Brontë 1980 Rough Cut Ernst Mueller The Sleep of Death Marquis Hawk the Slayer Priest Sir Henry at Rawlinson End Reverend Slodden 1981 Chariots of Fire Lord Cadogan The Monster Club Innkeeper The Black Cat Prof. Robert Miles Blood of Dr. Jekyll Gen. William Danvers Carew Alternative title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

Television Radio From an Abandoned Work (radio play by Samuel Beckett) Monologue first broadcast in 1957 by the BBC. Hordes of the Things (radio series) 1980 as The Narrator.

Awards and nominations