Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director, producer, and writer of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He began his career in Britain during the 1950s and became well known for the titular role of secret agent John Drake in the ITC espionage programme Danger Man (1960–68). He then created and produced the surrealistic ITV series The Prisoner (1967–68), in which he starred as former British intelligence agent Number Six.
Beginning in the 1970s, McGoohan maintained a long-running association with the television series Columbo, writing, directing, producing and appearing in several episodes. His notable film roles included David Jones in Ice Station Zebra (1968); James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971); the Warden in Escape from Alcatraz (1979); Dr. Paul Ruth in Scanners (1981); King Edward I in Braveheart (1995); Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill (1996); and the voice of Billy Bones in Treasure Planet (2002).
During the height of Danger Man's fame in the 1960s, McGoohan was the highest-paid actor on British television. 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.
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 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. It was McGoohan's last stage appearance for 28 years.
Danger Man
Production executive 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 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, Lew Grade asked McGoohan if he wanted to give John Drake another try. This time, McGoohan had even more say about the series. Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US) was resurrected in 1964 as a one-hour programme. The scripts now allowed McGoohan more range in his acting. Because of the popularity of the series, he became the highest-paid actor in the UK, 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…