Though born in America, Irish actor Patrick McGoohan rose to become the number one British TV star in the 1950s to 1960s era. His parents moved to Ireland when he was very young and McGoohan acquired a neutral accent that sounds at home in British or American dialogue. He was an avid stage actor and performed hundreds of times in small and large productions before landing his first TV and film roles. McGoohan is one of few actors who has successfully switched between theatre, TV, and films many times during his career. He was often cast in the role of Angry Young Man. In 1959, he was named Best TV Actor of the Year in Britain. Shortly thereafter, he was chosen for the starring role in the "Secret Agent" TV series (AKA "Danger Man") which proved to be an immense success for three years and allowed the British to break into the burgeoning American TV market for the first time. McGoohan became bored of the limiting role of spy and turned in his resignation right after the first episode of the fourth year had been filmed ("Koroshi"). McGoohan set up his own production company and collaborated with noted author and script editor George Markstein to sell a brand new concept to ITV's president Lew Grade. McGoohan starred, directed, produced, and wrote many of the episodes, sometimes taking a pseudonym to reduce the sheer number of credits to his name. Thus, the TV series "The Prisoner" came to revolve around the efforts of a secret agent, who resigned early in his career, to clear his name. His aim was to escape from a fancifully beautiful but psychologically brutal prison for people who know too much. The series was as popular as it was surreal and allegorical and its mysterious final episode cause such an uproar that McGoohan was to desert England for more than 20 years and seek relative anonynmity in LA, where celebrities are "a dime a dozen".

During the 70s, he appeared in two episodes of the TV detective series "Columbo", for which he won an Emmy Award. His film roles lapsed from prominence until his powerful performance as King Longshanks in Mel Gibson's production of "Braveheart" (1995). As such, he has solidified his casting in the role of Angry Old Man.


Best known for his starring role as Number 6 in the surreal science fiction allegory series, "The Prisoner" (1967). He was the first choice for the roles of Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (which went to Ian McKellen) and Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" films (which went to Richard Harris and later to Michael Gambon after Harris' death) but turned them down. Appeared in three different productions with the same name: the "Danger Man" (1960) episode "The Prisoner", "BBC Sunday-Night Play: The Prisoner (#4.21)" (1963), and "The Prisoner" (1967). Although they were all completely unrelated, the latter two had many similarities. Played the same regular character (John Drake) in two different series of Danger Man: "Danger Man" (1960) and "Danger Man" (1964). His "The Prisoner" (1967) character, Number Six, may also have been intended to be Drake (although McGoohan has always denied this while George Markstein, who co-created the series with McGoohan, continually said he was). Was the title character of all four series in which he starred: "Danger Man" (1960) (John Drake), "Danger Man" (1964) (John Drake), "The Prisoner" (1967) (Number Six), and "Rafferty" (1977) (Dr. Sid Rafferty). Reprised his "The Prisoner" (1967) character (Number Six) in "The Simpsons" (1989) episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes." Turned down two roles that eventually went to Roger Moore: Simon Templar in "The Saint" (1962) and James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). His parents' names were Thomas McGoohan and Rose Fitzpatrick McGoohan. He was a close friend of Peter Falk. His granddaughter Sarah was born in 1976. In his youth, considered becoming a Catholic priest. The son of an Irish-born farmer, he left school at 16 to work in a rope factory. He subsequently worked on a chicken farm but had to seek other employment because of an allergy to chicken feathers. For "The Prisoner" (1967), he sometimes used "Joseph Serf" for directing credits and "Paddy Fitz" for writing credits. "Paddy" being a nickname for "Patrick" while "Fitz" was derived from his mother's maiden name, Fitzpatrick. As a youth he lived in the rural parish of Drumreilly in county Leitrim, Ireland. Although the house is still there, it is unlived in and in a bad state of repair. On June 11, 2008, he became a great-grandfather to Jack Patrick Lockhart. Orson Welles was so impressed by his performance in the 1955 West End play "Serious Charge" that he cast him as Starbuck in his production of "Moby Dick Rehearsed". In 1948 he worked as a a stage manager at the Sheffield Repertory. While working as part of Sheffield Repertory, he quickly became one of its leading actors, appearing in more than 200 plays over the following four years. Further repertory work took him to Coventry and Bristol. Retired from acting after his fourth appearance in "Columbo" in 1998, returning only to provide voice-over work in Treasure Planet (2002). He died at Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, after a brief illness. His remains were cremated.