Patrick McGoohan dies at 80; TV’s ‘Secret Agent’ and ‘Prisoner’ – Los Angeles Times — FYI. One of my all-time favorites gone. He was not a number.
Patrick McGoohan, a two-time Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series “Secret Agent” and gained cult status later in the decade as the star of the enigmatic series “The Prisoner,” has died. He was 80.
via Tracy Taylor.
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I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
numbered!
Number Six is finally a free man.
RIP, Mr. McGoohan. Thanks for your body of work. You will be missed. 🙁
Just one week ago, I told a younger person what a great program this was, and they had not heard of it. After all, it’s black and white, and not a video game.
I know this actor must have done many other things, but The Prisoner will be the high point in this gentleman’s career. Orwellian in it’s brilliance, superbly acted, enigmatic in it’s numbering and the rotating bad guy, and those damn suffocating balloons! We all needed to escape, and we still do. But that is the subject of so many other topics on this blog….
We want . . . information!
John Drake: Danger Man [UK] Secret Agent [US]
Also in SCANNERS
And what a wonderful play on Number One…
J/P=?
Yea, Danger Man was superior. The premise for The Prisoner wore too thin real fast.
Prisoner > Danger Man
Danger Man was a standard spy drama inspired by James Bond. Prisoner was more challenging to the viewer, and although you can hate or love the ending, the episodes were truly “out of the box” with respect to the competition at the time.
The DVD set is worth owning and can be watched many times w/o getting stale…
I was a bit too tiny for Danger Man, but I do remember a replay of “The Prisoner”, which was played in the correct order (unlike the original US broadcast). When played in the original order, the story was excellent and made perfect sense.
Really! The Prisoner was a rewrite of Poe’s short story “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”, except in this production the inmates didn’t take over the asylum, the caretakers went bonkers instead.
(A great allegory to the Bush Administration and the war on terror).
But for those who do remember Danger Man, check out this link.
http://tinyurl.com/92toqe
What a fascinating charisma he projected. A complete original.
At least AMC’s reboot of the series looks promising.
#7–Ah Yea–thanks.
Danger Man–a non-violent thinking mans spy. Not much chance for success in America.
I’ll check it later to see if its as good ((in its time)) as I remember==then compare to James Bond time wise. Being it was TV–maybe the better comparison would be “Napoleon Solo” or some other schlock?
Some odd trivia:
His second-last credit on imdb.com was on The Simpsons, an episode titled “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” as Number Six.
[Number Two] “You are Number Six”
“I am not a number — I am a free man!”
[Number Two] “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
#11–Uncle==nice trivia, I’ll look for that the next time thru.
Danger man was on air in 1962, Dr No aired in 1962===so unless Danger Man was a complete rewrite in character, plot, and theme of the books the two drama’s appear be to very independent of one another.
Ah Yea’s link has other episodes as well. Shows what a good actor can do with marginal material.
#12–me==correction: “Danger man was on air in 1960.”–two years before Bond.
Nice clip interview with McGoohan about The Prisoner here, demonstrating how bored and uninterested he became:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=F8-cp2yb43c&feature=related
but this one when he still wanted the series to succeed:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=J_DRXAf0iGI&NR=1
Patrick McGoohan is best known for his excellent work in The Prisoner. As far as a personal favorite it would have to go to his fine portrayal of “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.”
Be seeing you.
FREEEDOOOOOOOOM!!!
Named, psych! I was going to say the same thing.
And not only that, John Mortimer, the barrister and author of the Rumpole of the Bailey series has also died. Leo McKern who played Rumpole was also the best known Number 2 on The Prisoner.
Ice Station Zebra in T-O-D-D-A-O.
RBG
Scotland. MY land….
To commemorate I listened to the sixties classic ‘Secret Agent Man’ and remembered all those great tv moments he gave me.
Damm. We lose Kahn and The Prisoner in the same week! Very sad indeed. These things come in threes. We need to get Sean Connery to a safehouse.
The story I heard was that McGoohan was offered the part of James Bond, but turned it down because of the violence and sex. In Danger Man the violence was circumspect (usually a fistfight lasting 30 seconds), and the sex was latent. For example, he’d never go as far as kissing a beautiful actress, but he would give her a meaningful glance. Though there was a great episode where he played it up as a gay honeypot to entrap an inexperienced spy with effete tendencies, or maybe I should write it in inverted commas.
At the time he was doing Danger Man, McGoohan (pronounced McGowan, according to a Scottish friend) was the highest paid TV actor in Britain.
Thanks for the memories, Patrick!
#21
Painter Andrew Wyeth died yesterday too. Lets hope that counts.
Ron G. (#3)– Actually, “The Prisoner” was shot in color. As was the last episode of “Secret Agent.” The producer had wanted to do the show on the cheap but McGoohan, even though he was tiring of playing the John Drake role, argued it should be in color to improve the possibility of re-runs. The floating, bouncing security enforcement balloons in “The Prisoner” were called Rovers.
bobbo (#10)– “Danger Man – a non-violent thinking man’s spy.” McGoohan thought wits were more important than Walthers. And as jbellies (#22) said, he thought Bond girls were irrelevant to a secret agent’s work, although the Bond franchise certainly has worked for the Broccoli family. I don’t think “Danger Man” could be put in the same category as the far more fluff “Man from U.N.C.L.E.”
McGoohan portrayed Starbuck in a 1955 play of “Moby Dick” which was produced by Orson Welles who also played Captain Ahab and Father Mapple. Christopher Lee played Flask.
I had the wonderful opportunity to bump into McGoohan at Heathrow Airport in 1969 as he was leaving to shoot a movie in Ireland. By remarkable chance, I had the theme to “The Prisoner” spooled up on my cassette player, walked up to him and turned it on. He looked at me and said softly, “Turn that damned thing off.”
We retired to the lounge and he had a gin and tonic (although I understand he generally preferred Irish whiskey). I mentioned the line he said in “The Prisoner” that he knew “every nut and bolt” of his Lotus Super Seven and asked if the car in the show was his. He said, “Lord no, those cars fall apart with every bump in the road.” And being that he was 6’2″, it must have been a tight fit for him to get into a Seven.
He was a genuinely remarkable man and will be missed by many. I wonder what he was writing when he died and what two productions he was considering to be in, although IMDB says he retired from acting in 2002.
Yes he will be missed but “The Prisoner” is not a bad epitaph.
Just for fans of the show – If you are ever in north Wales a visit to “The Village” known as ‘Port Merion’ is a must. Fascinating place that has a hotel or you can rent many of the houses you see on the show. I stayed there for a week a few years ago – it was quite surreal at night!
I AM NOT A NUMBER!!!
the real billybob– Well, I’ll just call you #26.
Lotus Seven, no ejection seat.
# 26 said,
I AM NOT A NUMBER!!!
J/P=?