Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:16PM7 comments ›
Wed Jan 14, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Patrick McGoohan, 1928-2009
Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a short illness, his son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg, said. He was 80.
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was born March 19, 1928 in Astoria, Queens, NY, raised in Ireland and the UK. He rose to fame in the British film and TV industry by starring in the 1960s television series Danger Man (renamed Secret Agent when exported to the US) playing John Drake, a role which made him the highest paid actor in England at the time.
McGoohan won two Emmys for his work on the Peter Falk detective drama Columbo, and more recently appeared as King Edward Longshanks in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart. He portrayed the father (and predecessor) of the Phantom in the 1996 movie.
But he was most famous as the character known only as Number Six in The Prisoner, a sci-fi tinged 1960s British series in which a former unnamed spy is held captive in a small enclave known only as The Village, where a mysterious authority named Number One constantly prevents his escape. McGoohan not only starred in the series, he created it, and wrote and directed many episodes. It's currently being remade as a miniseries for AMC.
At the time of his death, McGoohan was mostly retired, living in Los Angeles, California with his wife of 57 years, Joan Drummond McGoohan. Along with his three daughters, he had five grandchildren (Sarah, Erin, Simon, Nina, and Paddy). On June 11, 2008, he became a great-grandfather to Jack Patrick Lockhart.
To promote its new reinterpretation of the show which just wrapped shooting and scheduled to premiere in November, AMC started streaming the original series in full screen last week. If you've never seen them before, go look.
Jump to comments (7) 
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Comments (7)
Gus Fallon (3:41 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
R.I.P. He was one of the greatest actors and creative people of his generation. Be seeing you, Mr McGoohan. My thoughts are with his family.
Tom Fitzpatrick (5:00 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
The Prisoner is free!
May he rest in peace!
mike weber (9:05 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
All "Prisoner" fans should watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0BoRMuEh2c
The band (who were born in 1962 and 1963 - the song was a 1982 release, so they were like 18 or 19; thus, too young to remember the first run, and grew up before VCRs were common) had apparently never heard of "The Prisoner", and the video producer didn't show them any episodes until *after* filming was finished.
Russ Rogers (10:21 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
Somebody made a comic book of "The Prisoner." I've got an issue or two someplace. Ah, it was Dean Motter!
It's funny. Everybody remembers "The Prisoner." But that was unofficially based on "Danger Man" or "Secret Agent." A semi-spin off. He made 47 episodes of "Danger Man" and only 17 of "The Prisoner" too. McGoohan played both "Danger Man" and Number 6. Both were spies. But McGoohan didn't have the rights to "Danger Man," when he produced "The Prisoner". Which is one reason nobody ever says Number 6's name!
I also remember "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." That was a Disney Action movie with a sort of "Superhero" twist. Dr. Syn disguises himself as The Scarecrow to right the wrongs of 18th Century England. Bo Hampton could do a killer adaptation of that! But maybe I'm the only one who would pay to read it.
Michael Matt (4:35 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
Very original and exciting actor. I never saw him in anything that I disliked. I'm sure those of us that know his work will dearly miss him.
Marc Kordelos (3:28 PM on Wed Jan 14, 2009)
Such a shame the OG Number Six will not be around to chime in with comments on the up coming new series. Be Seeing You!
Miles Vorkosigan (12:50 PM on Thu Jan 15, 2009)
This really sucks. We lose Patrick, very next day lose Ricardo... and it's not like it hasn't happened before. Heinlein died about a day after Cliff Simak, and Jimmy Stewart outlived Bob Mitchum by maybe 36 hours.
Which was a real surprise; as potent a boozer as Mitchum was, I figured he wouldn't have lived as long as he did...
Bye, Patrick. Be seeing you...
Miles