Patrick McGoohan

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, 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. McGoohan excelled in maths and boxing, and left school at 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".

McGoohan's first television appearance was as Charles Stewart Parnell in "The Fall of Parnell" for the series You Are There (1954). He had an uncredited role in the movie The Dam Busters (1955), standing guard outside a briefing room. He delivered one 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.

After a series of small roles in films, he was the lead in "The Makepeace Story" for BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1955) and appeared in Welles' movie version of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.

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) and Hell Drivers (1957).

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 worked in television, 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 seen. It was McGoohan's last stage appearance for 28 years.

''Danger Man''

Main article: Danger Man

Lew Grade soon approached McGoohan about a television series where he would play a spy named John Drake. Having learned from his experience at Rank, McGoohan insisted on several conditions: all the fistfights should be different; the character would always use his brain before using a gun; and—much to the executives' horror—no kissing. The show debuted in 1960 as Danger Man, 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 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 instead worked 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 refused the role of Simon Templar in The Saint, Grade asked McGoohan if he wanted to give Drake another try. This time, McGoohan had even more say in the series. Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US) returned in 1964 as a one-hour programme. The scripts allowed McGoohan more range in his acting. Because of the popularity of the series, he became the highest-paid actor in the UK.

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

''The Prisoner''

Main article: The Prisoner

McGoohan pitched a miniseries about a secret agent who 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 to produce The Prisoner. In addition to being the show's protagonist, McGoohan was its executive producer, forming Everyman Films with producer David Tomblin, and wrote and directed several episodes, in some cases using pseudonyms. The originally commissioned seven episodes grew to seventeen.

The title character, the otherwise-unnamed "Number Six", spends the entire series trying to escape 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 was featured in some episodes of Danger Man. Although the show was sold as a thriller in the mould of Danger Man, its surreal and Kafkaesque setting and reflection of concerns of the 1960s counterculture have had a far-reaching influence on popular culture and the series ultimately developed a cult following.

The Prisoner was created while McGoohan and George Markstein worked on Danger Man. The exact details of who created which aspects of the show are disputed, as there is no "created by" credit. Majority opinion credits McGoohan as sole creator, but a disputed co-creator status was ascribed to Markstein after a series of fan interviews were published in the 1980s.

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 Prisoner, he was meant to star in an expensive adaptation of the James Clavell best-seller Tai-Pan but the project was cancelled before filming. Instead he made The Moonshine War (1970) for MGM.

1970s

Following his turn in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), he directed 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 Silver Streak (1976), The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), Brass Target (1978), and Escape from Alcatraz (1979), portraying the prison's warden.

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

1980s-2000s

In 1980 he appeared in the UK television movie The Hard Way, followed by the science fiction/horror movie Scanners in 1981 and a TV remake of Jamaica Inn in 1983. After seeing Jamaica Inn, McGoohan concluded he could no longer act and rejected offers from 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 the role of a British spy. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Actor.

McGoohan featured as Edward I of England in Braveheart (1995), revitalising his career, and was seen the following year as Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill.

In 2000, he reprised his role of Number Six for an episode of The Simpsons, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes". In it, Homer Simpson concocts a news story to make his website more popular, and wakes up in a prison disguised as a holiday resort. Dubbed Number Five, he meets Number Six, and later betrays him and escapes with his boat; referencing his numerous attempts to escape on a raft in The Prisoner, Number Six splutters "That's the third time that's happened!"

McGoohan's last movie role was the voice of Billy Bones in the Disney animated film Treasure Planet (2002). That same year, he received a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for The Prisoner.

Personal life

McGoohan married actress Joan Drummond on May 19, 1951. They had three children including Catherine McGoohan. 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 sons, had little time for acting)", which somewhat restricted his choices.

For most of the 1960s they lived in a secluded detached house on the Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London. They settled in the Pacific Palisades district of Los Angeles during the mid-1970s.

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.

Legacy

The surreal and Kafkaesque setting of The Prisoner and its reflection of concerns of the 1960s counterculture have had a far-reaching influence on popular culture and the series ultimately developed a cult following. Since its debut, the series' enduring popularity has led to its influencing and being referenced in a range of other media.

McGoohan's name was associated with several aborted attempts at producing a new movie version of The Prisoner. In 2002, Simon West was signed to direct a version of the story. McGoohan was listed as executive producer for the movie, which never came to fruition. Later, Christopher Nolan was proposed as director for a movie version. However, the source material remained difficult and elusive to adapt into a feature movie. McGoohan was not involved with the project that was ultimately completed. A miniseries was shown on AMC in 2009.

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

Filmography

Television roles

Theatre roles

This is an incomplete list. Sources include and.

Awards

• 1960: BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor — Won
• 1975: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (for Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light) — Won
• 1990: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (for Columbo: Agenda for Murder) — Won

Notes

References

References

1. Barker, Dennis. (January 15, 2009). "Obituary: Patrick McGoohan". The Guardian.
2. Rogers, Dave. (1992). "The Prisoner & Danger Man". Boxtree.
3. (September 29, 2017). "Celebration as cult show The Prisoner turns 50".
4. (January 15, 2009). "Patrick McGoohan". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
5. Langley, R: ''Patrick McGoohan''. Tomahawk Press, 2007.
6. [http://irishpost.co.uk/patrick-mcgoohans-famous-words-i-am-not-a-number-i-am-a-free-man/ "BFI retrospective"] {{Webarchive. link. (February 5, 2018 , ''The Irish Post''; retrieved July 9, 2016.)
7. Langley, Roger ''Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner?'', pp. 12–13. Tomahawk Press, 2007. Second revised updated edition, Escape Books, 2017.
8. (September 14, 2007). "Why the Prisoner can't escape from us".
9. "BFI Screenonline: McGoohan, Patrick (1928–2009) Biography".
10. Hope-Wallace, Philip. (February 18, 1955). "Another New Play in London: 'Serious Charge'". The Manchester Guardian.
11. Fay, Gerard. (June 18, 1955). "Wellesian Version of 'Moby Dick': A Sea Charade". The Manchester Guardian.
12. Jonathan Rosenbaum (ed.), [[Orson Welles]] and [[Peter Bogdanovich]], ''[[This is Orson Welles]]'' (Da Capo Press, New York, 1992 [rev. 1998 ed.]) p. 4
13. Cassin, B. ''I Never Had a Proper Job''. Liberties Press, 2012.
14. Langley, R. ''Patrick McGoohan'', pp. 41–42. Tomahawk Press, 2007.
15. Patrick McGoohan Picture Show; London 70.1823 (March 8, 1958): 8.
16. (October 29, 1958). "Love under an African moon". [[The Australian Women's Weekly]].
17. [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/television/actor "BAFTA award in 1960"], BAFTA, Retrieved February 1, 2015
18. Michael Meyer, ''Not Prince Hamlet''
19. ""World Theatre" Brand (TV Episode 1959)". [[IMDb]].
20. (January 14, 2009). "'Prisoner' Star Patrick McGoohan Dies". CBS News.
21. Vincent Cosgrove, 2007. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/arts/television/15cosg.html "Odds Are He Will Live on Disc Tomorrow,"] ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 15. Retrieved 4–7–10.
22. (July 19, 1961). "'Danger Man'". [[The Australian Women's Weekly]].
23. "Why ''Danger Man'' scared me", ''Photoplay'', April 1961, p. 14.
24. (November 17, 2022). "The Actors Who Almost Played James Bond".
25. (January 12, 2016). "20 The Catholic Actor Who Turned Down the Role of James Bond".
26. (1965). "Time & Tide". Time and Tide Publishing Company.
27. (June 30, 1965). "Dangerman". [[The Australian Women's Weekly]].
28. Martin Jackson "Danger Man To Quit", ''Daily Express'', April 16, 1966, p. 12. Jackson states: "Now McGoohan has put up a new TV idea to ATV's managing director Lew Grade." He said: "It is another adventure series but a very different sort of character. It promises to be very exciting. Mr. Grade said: Mr. McGoohan is coming to see me tomorrow to discuss the details. We hope to start work on the new series in October."
29. (February 2022). "The Prisoner Puzzle (with Patrick McGoohan)".
30. McGoohan wrote "[[Free For All (The Prisoner). Free for All]]" as Paddy Fitz, and directed "[[Many Happy Returns (The Prisoner). Many Happy Returns]]" and "[[A Change of Mind]]" as Joseph Serf. He also wrote "[[Once Upon a Time (The Prisoner). Once Upon A Time]]" and "[[Fall Out (The Prisoner). Fall Out]]" under his own name.
31. Davy, Rick. (2017). "The Prisoner – The Essential Guide". Quoit Media Ltd.
32. (July 29, 1968). "MGM Won't Drop Plans for 'Tai-Pan'". Los Angeles Times.
33. Katelan, Jean-Yves. (October 1995). "Le Prisonnier au cinema".
34. TV.com. "Rafferty". TV.com.
35. Michael Meyer, 'Not Prince Hamlet'
36. "''Pack of Lies'' (original Broadway play)". [[Internet Broadway Database]].
37. (January 16, 2009). "Patrick McGoohan: Actor who created and starred in the cult 1960s television series 'The Prisoner'". The Independent.
38. (December 26, 1984). "McGoohan to Star in 'Pack of Lies'". The New York Times.
39. Dalton, Andrew. "'Prisoner' actor Patrick McGoohan dies in LA".
40. (2007). "Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner?". Tomahawk Press.
41. (2011). "Not a Number: A life". Supernova Books.
42. "Patrick McGoohan".
43. (February 8, 2020). "Patrick McGoohan".