Patrick Joseph McGoohan (/məˈɡuː.ən/; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during the 1950s and became well known for the titular role of secret agent John Drake in the ITC espionage programme Danger Man (1960–1968). He then created, produced, and starred as former British intelligence agent Number Six in the surrealisticITV series The Prisoner (1967–1968).
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).[2] Soon after he was born, the family returned to Ireland, settling in the Mullaghmore area of Carrigallen, County Leitrim.[3][4]
"Intimidated" by McGoohan's stage presence, Orson Welles cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.[8] 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,"[9] reflecting that he had "all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye".[2]
McGoohan's first television appearance was as Charles Stewart Parnell in "The Fall of Parnell" for the series You Are There (1954).[10][11] 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.[citation needed]
His favourite part for stage acting was the lead in Henrik Ibsen's Brand, for which he received an award.[clarification needed] He also played the role in a BBC television production in August 1959.[16]Michael Meyer, who translated the stage version, thought McGoohan's performance was the best and most powerful he had ever seen.[17] It was McGoohan's last stage appearance for 28 years.[citation needed]
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,[18] a half-hour programme intended for American audiences. It did fairly well, but not as well as hoped.[19][20]
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."[21]
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,[22] 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.)[23]
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,[23] 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,[24] and the show lasted almost three more years.[25]
After shooting the only two colour episodes of Danger Man, McGoohan told Grade that he would quit the role.[26]
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.[18]
In addition to being the series' protagonist, McGoohan was its executive producer, forming Everyman Films with producer David Tomblin, and also wrote and directed several episodes, in some cases using pseudonyms.[27][28] 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.[29] Instead he made the movie The Moonshine War (1970) for MGM.
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).
In 2000, he reprised his role as Number Six in 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 he 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 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 filmed for the AMC network in late 2008, with its broadcast occurring during November 2009.
Personal life
McGoohan married actress Joan Drummond on May 19, 1951. They had three children including Catherine McGoohan.[34]
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.[35]
^Cassin, B. I Never Had a Proper Job. Liberties Press, 2012.
^Langley, R. Patrick McGoohan, pp. 41–42. Tomahawk Press, 2007.
^(Lyric, Hammersmith.) Ring for Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale. (Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue) Hartley, Anthony. The Spectator; London 196.6661 (24 February 1956): p. 248.
^Patrick McGoohan Picture Show; London 70.1823 (March 8, 1958): 8.
^Time & Tide. Vol. 46. Time and Tide Publishing Company. 1965. p. 66. Danger Man, McGoohan put a new spin on the secret agent formula by refusing to allow his character, John Drake, ... The show's success made McGoohan Britain's highest-paid TV actor
^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."
^Bennetts, Leslie (December 26, 1984). "McGoohan to Star in 'Pack of Lies'". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2019. The McGoohans, who live in Pacific Palisades, Calif
