2009 brings its first cinematic and television casualty. Patrick McGoohan of The Prisoner and Danger Man fame has passed away at the age of 80 years old.
McGoohan died following a short illness at his Los Angeles home.
In the 1960′s Patrick McGoohan starred as John Drake in Danger Man, and then as Number 6 in Danger Man’s unofficial spin-off The Prisoner, a surreal but iconic show that has gone down in cult-legend despite only lasting seventeen episodes. The success of Danger Man and The Prisoner led to McGoohan being offered the role of James Bond, however the actor turned down the offer, refusing to be typecast in spy roles.
An Emmy and Bafta award-winner, McGoohan starred in several Columbo episodes between the mid-70′s and late 90′s, and Peter Falk recently stated that the British actor was his favorite co-star in the detective series.
In recent years, McGoohan played small but pivotal roles in films such as A Time To Kill, The Phantom and Mel Gibson’s Oscar winning 1995 film, Braveheart, in which he played King Edward. Other notable roles were in the 1960′s thriller Ice Station Zebra and a cameo in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, in which he spoofed his Prisoner role.
The actor will be sorely missed with his sophisticated gravitas adding much to television and film over the last fifty years.The Screen Rant team would like to offer our deepest condolences to Mr. McGoohan’s family and friends in their time of grieving.
You can learn more about Patrick McGoohan’s celebrated career from his IMBD page.
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I can’t believe he’s gone. I was just watching a bunch of videos yesterday about “The Prisoner”. He was probably already gone at that point, and I didn’t even know.
God bless and thank you, Mr. McGoohan. You were a great actor, and you created a wonderful show.
Be seeing you.
~Pete M
I heard he was a consultant on the movie being planned; with him not in charge, watch this get dumbed down for the HSM set…Zac Efron as Number 6 (Oh wow! a role that matches his IQ!), Selena Gomez as Number 2…
(*shudder!*)
I was shocked to hear the news. The Prisoner only lasted 17 episodes because McGoohan found the show was done and wrote the last two episodes. It’s a complex show with an uneven feel to it but well worth seeing.
My condolonces to his family and friends .
Just saw on ABC World News, Ricardo Montalban has died. 88 years young…
I just watched ‘Ice Station Zebra’ last month. Classic movie and a classic actor.
Adios’ to you as well, Ricardo!
I’m a big fan of Patrick McGoohan from The Prisoner and Ice Station Zebra. This is seriously sad.
The Prisoner was an iron fist in a velvet glove: like its creator, elegant, passionate and subversive.
Another reason McGoohan turned down Bond was that he disapproved of the character’s womanising and gunplay. It was his idea for John Drake never to carry a gun in Danger Man.
I first saw Patrick McGoohan in one of my favorite films growing up, in Silver Streak as the villainous Mr. Devereaux. He was good in that role. As a science fiction fan, I’ll remember Mr. McGoohan best as The Prisoner. He’ll be greatly missed.
Some of you might be too young to remember McGoohan from “The 3 Lives of Thomasina” and “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh,” (both Disney) and also from hosting the horror anthology series “Journey Into Darkness” (1968 I think). His last screen performance as King Edward Longshanks in “Braveheart” was superb. He was a class act, a gentleman, and fantastic actor who was also a talented writer. His like will never come again and he will be sorely missed.
Wow! God Bless Him!
You didn’t mention that he played ‘The Scarecrow’ for Disney (long, long, ago…)
It scared me for life! You should check it out!
- Back to looking up the Black Widows’ Dres Address!
-Stark
I know this is probably too late to comment, and nobody will ever look at this page again, but I have to somewhere! He was my great uncle. Please, anyone looking at this, comment? I didn’t know for ages, because nobody thought of telling me. I only met him once, when I was too young to remember him, because I live in England. I just want to know what people think of him, as a PERSON. Thanks.
To His Great Niece,
From what I understand, as a person Patrick was a very dedicated actor, however from what I have heard he was quite difficult to work with.
If you watch the blu-ray and DVD’s of “The Prisoner” some of the cast members talk about their experience working with him on set.
IMO, I think those who didn’t get him on the series who thought it was all a joke he did not get along with.
Ideals wise I hear he was a devout Catholic and if you watch most of his work, at least Danger Man & The Prisoner he didn’t kiss any women. My guess is he didn’t want to play a playboy/bond type character and that’s one reason why he didn’t accept playing Bond.
He also believes in using people’s heads instead of excessive violence, at least on the TV screen, although ‘Fallout” has a bunch of people firing guns, but anyway…
If any of his close friends are still alive I suggest contacting them to find out more about Patrick as a person. Start with Bernie Williams, I bet you can find a way to contact him if you really try.