Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, producer, and writer of film, television, and theatre. McGoohan won the 1960 BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor , and twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, including its inaugural 1975 entry, for roles on Columbo. He was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his role in the Broadway play Pack of Lies.

Early life Patrick Joseph McGoohan was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City on March 19, 1928, to Irish Catholic immigrant parents Thomas McGoohan and Rose McGoohan (née Fitzpatrick). Soon after he was born, the family returned to Ireland, settling in the Mullaghmore area of Drumreilly, County Leitrim.

Seven years later, they relocated to England, settling in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. McGoohan attended St Marie's School, then St Vincent's School, and De La Salle College, all in Sheffield. During World War II, he was evacuated to Loughborough, where he attended Ratcliffe College at the same time as future actor Ian Bannen. McGoohan excelled in mathematics and boxing, and left school at the age of 16 to return to Sheffield, where he worked as a chicken farmer, bank clerk, and lorry driver before getting a job as a stage manager for Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When one of the actors became ill, McGoohan substituted for him, which began his acting career.

Career Early career In 1955, McGoohan featured in a West End stage production of Serious Charge, as a Church of England vicar accused of being homosexual.

"Intimidated" by McGoohan's stage presence, Orson Welles cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed. Welles said in 1969 that he believed McGoohan "would now be, I think, one of the big actors of our generation if TV hadn't grabbed him," reflecting that he had "all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye". He had an uncredited role in the movie The Dam Busters (1955), standing guard outside a briefing room. He delivered the line, "Sorry, old boy, it's secret—you can't go in. Now, c'mon, hop it!," which was cut from some prints of the movie.

He also had small roles in Passage Home (1955), The Dark Avenger (1955) and I Am A Camera (1955). He could also be seen in Zarak (1956) for Warwick Films. For television he was in "Margin for Error" in Terminus (1955), guest featured on The Adventures of Sir Lancelot and Assignment Foreign Legion, and The Adventures of Aggie. He played the lead in "The Makepeace Story" for BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1955). He also appeared in Welles' movie version of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.

He did Ring for Catty on stage in 1956.

Rank Organisation While working as a stand-in during screen tests, McGoohan was signed to a contract with The Rank Organisation. They gave him mostly villainous parts in films, including High Tide at Noon (1957), directed by Philip Leacock; Hell Drivers (1957), directed by Cy Endfield; and The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958), directed by Joseph Losey.

He had frequent roles in television anthology series such as Television Playwright, Folio, Armchair Theatre, ITV Play of the Week and ITV Television Playhouse. He was given a leading role in Nor the Moon by Night (1958), filmed in South Africa. After some disputes with Rank management, the contract was dissolved. He then did some TV work, winning a BAFTA in 1960.

His favourite part for stage acting was the lead in Henrik Ibsen's Brand, for which he received an award . Michael Meyer, the play's translator, wrote of the last act "McGoohan suddenly unleashed all his terrifying power, and from then until the final moments... the audience was gripped as seldom happens in a theatre." He also played the role in a BBC television production in August 1959. Michael Meyer, who translated the stage version, thought McGoohan's performance was the best and most powerful he had ever seen. a half-hour programme intended for American audiences. It did fairly well, but not as well as hoped.

Production lasted a year and 39 episodes. After the first series was over, an interviewer asked McGoohan if he would have liked it to continue. He replied, "Perhaps, but let me tell you this: I would rather do twenty TV series than go through what I went through under that Rank contract I signed a few years ago and for which I blame no one but myself."

Post-Danger Man McGoohan appeared in the movie Two Living, One Dead (1961), filmed in Sweden. He featured in two movies directed by Basil Dearden: All Night Long, an updating of Othello, and Life for Ruth (both 1962). He also featured in an adaptation of The Quare Fellow (1962) by Brendan Behan.

McGoohan was one of several actors considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No. While McGoohan, a Catholic, refused the role on moral grounds, the success of the Bond films is generally cited as the reason for Danger Man being revived. (He was later considered for the same role in Live and Let Die, but refused again.)

McGoohan spent some time working for The Walt Disney Company on The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963) and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1963). A staid English vicar, Dr. Christopher Syn (a reformed pirate captain - played by McGoohan) disguised as a scarecrow and mounted on a magnificent black stallion thwarts King George III's Revenue officers in daring night-time smuggling adventures on the remote Kent coast.

Return of Danger Man After he had also refused the role of Simon Templar in The Saint, and the show lasted almost three more years.

After shooting the only two colour episodes of Danger Man, McGoohan told Grade that he would quit the role.

The Prisoner

Knowing McGoohan's intention to quit Danger Man, Grade asked if he would at least work on "something" for him. McGoohan pitched a miniseries about a secret agent who angrily quits and is abducted to a surreal, cheerful holiday resort village. Grade asked for a budget, McGoohan had one ready, and they made a deal over a handshake early on a Saturday morning to produce The Prisoner. The originally commissioned seven episodes became seventeen.

The title character, the otherwise-unnamed "Number Six", spends the entire series trying to escape from a mysterious prison community called "The Village", and to learn the identity of its ruler. The Village's administrators try just as much to force or trick him into revealing why he resigned as a spy, which he refuses to divulge. The series' main exterior filming location was the Italianate resort village of Portmeirion, Gwynedd, Wales, which had been featured in some episodes of Danger Man.

MGM During production of The Prisoner, MGM cast McGoohan in an action movie, Ice Station Zebra (1968), for which his performance as a British spy drew critical praise.

After the end of The Prisoner, he presented a TV show, Journey into Darkness (1968–69). He was meant to follow it with the lead role of Dirk Struan in an expensive adaptation of the James Clavell best-seller Tai-Pan but the project was cancelled before filming. Instead he made the movie The Moonshine War (1970) for MGM.

1970s McGoohan played James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). He directed Richie Havens in a rock opera version of Othello, entitled Catch My Soul (1974), but disliked the experience.

McGoohan received two Emmy Awards for his work for the television series Columbo, with his long-time friend Peter Falk. McGoohan said that his first appearance on Columbo (in the 1974 episode "By Dawn's Early Light") was probably his favourite American role. He directed five Columbo episodes (including three of the four in which he appeared), one of which he also wrote and two of which he also produced. McGoohan was involved with the Columbo series in some capacity from 1974 to 2000; his daughter Catherine McGoohan appeared with him in the episode "Ashes to Ashes" (1998). The other two Columbo episodes in which he appeared are "Identity Crisis" (1975) and "Agenda for Murder" (1990).

As he had done early in his career with the Rank Organisation, McGoohan began to specialise in villains, appearing in A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975), Silver Streak (1976) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1977).

In 1977, he had the main role of the television series Rafferty as a retired army doctor who moves into private practice.

He had the lead in a Canadian movie, Kings and Desperate Men; then had supporting parts in Brass Target (1978) and the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz (1979), portraying the prison's warden.

1980s In 1980 he appeared in the UK television movie The Hard Way.

In 1981 he appeared in the science fiction/horror movie Scanners, and in Jamaica Inn (1983) and Trespasses (1984). When McGoohan saw Jamaica Inn he decided he could no longer act and rejected invitations by Michael Elliott to play Captain Ahab and Hotspur.

In 1985 he appeared in his only Broadway production, featuring opposite Rosemary Harris in Hugh Whitemore's Pack of Lies, in which he played another British spy. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Actor for his performance.

He could also be seen in the movies Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) and Of Pure Blood (1986) as well as an episode of Murder, She Wrote.

1990s McGoohan featured in The Best of Friends (1991), and featured as King Edward I in Braveheart (1995) which revitalised his career; he was seen the following year as Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill and in The Phantom, a cinema adaptation of the comic strip. A devout Catholic, McGoohan "would not act any part in which he had to kiss any actress who was not his wife (and she, looking after him and their small daughters, had little time for acting)",

Death McGoohan died following a "short illness" at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on January 13, 2009, at the age of 80.

A biography of McGoohan was published in 2007 by Tomahawk Press, and another followed in 2011 by Supernova Books.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1955 Passage Home McIsaacs The Dark Avenger English soldier Uncredited The Dam Busters RAF guard I Am a Camera Swedish water therapist 1956 Zarak Moor Larkin 1957 High Tide at Noon Simon Breck Hell Drivers G. 'Red' Redman 1958 The Gypsy and the Gentleman Jess Nor the Moon by Night Andrew Miller 1961 Two Living, One Dead Erik Berger 1962 All Night Long Johnny Cousin Life for Ruth Dr. Jim Brown The Quare Fellow Thomas Crimmin 1963 The Three Lives of Thomasina Andrew McDhui Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow Dr. Christopher Syn 1968 Ice Station Zebra David Jones 1970 The Moonshine War Frank Long 1971 Mary, Queen of Scots James Stuart 1974 Catch My Soul Director 1975 A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe Maj. Cabot 1976 Silver Streak Roger Devereau 1978 Brass Target Col. Mike McCauley 1979 Escape from Alcatraz The Warden 1980The Hard WayJohn Connor 1981 Scanners Dr. Paul Ruth Kings and Desperate Men John Kingsley Filmed in 1977 1984 Trespasses Fred Wells 1985 Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend Dr. Eric Kiviat 1995 Braveheart King Edward Longshanks 1996 The Phantom The 20th Phantom A Time to Kill Judge Omar Noose 1997 Hysteria Dr. Harvey Langston 2002 Treasure Planet Billy Bones (voice)

Television Year Title Role Notes1954 You Are There Charles Stewart Parnell Episode: "The Fall Of Parnell" 1955 The Vise Tony Mason Episode: "Gift from Heaven" Terminus James Hartley Episode: "Margin for Error" The Makepeace Story Seth Makepeace Episode: "The Ruthless Destiny" 1956 The Adventures of Sir Lancelot Sir Glavin Episode: "The Outcast" 1957 Assignment Foreign Legion Captain Valadon Episode: "The Coward" 1956–57 The Adventures of Aggie Migual Episode: "Spanish Sauce" 1958 The Vise Tom Vance Episode: "Blood in the Sky" Armchair Theatre Jack 'Pal' Smurch Episode: "The Greatest Man in the World" Television Playwright Presents James Coogan Episode: "This Day in Fear" ITV Television Playhouse Mat Galvin Episode: "Rest in Violence" 1961 Armchair Theatre Nicholai Soloviov Episode: "The Man Out There" 1960–62,1964–68 Danger Man John Drake Main role; 86 episodes.Director; 3 episodes. 1963 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Doctor Christopher Syn/Scarecrow of Romney Marsh 3 episodes 1963 Sunday Night Play The Interrogator Episode: "The Prisoner" 1967–68 The Prisoner Number Six Main role; 17 episodesDirector; 5 episodes1974–76,1987,1990,1998ColumboCol. Lyle C. Rumford, Nelson Brenner, Oscar Finch, Eric PrinceGuest actor; 4 episodesDirector; 5 episodesCo-Exec. producer; 2 episodes 1977 Rafferty Doctor Sid Rafferty 13 episodesDirector; 1 episode 1985 American Playhouse Chief magistrate 3 episodes 1987 Murder, She Wrote Oliver Quayle Episode: "Witness for the Defense" 1992 Masterpiece Theater George Bernard Shaw Episode: "The Best Of Friends"2000 The Simpsons Number Six (voice) Episode: "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"

TV films, miniseries, and specials Year Title Role Notes 1959 Brand Brand 1969 Journey into Darkness Host 1977The Man in the Iron MaskFouquet 1980 The Hard Way John Connor 1983 Jamaica Inn Joss Merlyn 1986 Of Pure Blood Dr. Felix Neumann

Partial stage credits

Sources:

Awards and nominations