Vale: Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan, who created and starred in the cult classic television show The Prisoner, has died. He was 80.

McGoohan died on Tuesday in Los Angeles after a short illness, his son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg, said.

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.

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 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 came up with the concept and wrote and directed several episodes of the show, which has kept a devoted following in the United States and Europe for four decades.

Born in New York in 1928, McGoohan was raised in England and Ireland. He married stage actress Joan Drummond in 1951.

His first foray into TV was in 1964 in the series Danger Man, a more straightforward spy show that initially lasted just one season. Weary of playing the show’s lead John Drake, McGoohan pitched to producers the surreal and cerebral The Prisoner to give himself a challenge. The series ran just one season and 17 episodes in 1967, but its cultural impact remains. The show is being remade as a series for AMC that premieres later this year.

Later came smaller roles in film and television. McGoohan won Emmys for guest spots on Columbo 16 years apart, in 1974 and 1990.

McGoohan is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Source: The Canberra Times