Number Six

Patrick McGoohan, a multifaceted actor who spun television legend by creating and starring in the 1960s program “The Prisoner,” a mysterious allegory about a mysterious man in a mysterious seaside village that became a cult classic, died on Jan. 13 in Los Angeles. He was 80.

ITC, via WNYC -Patrick McGoohan in the mysterious title role of “The Prisoner,” a 1960s television series.

His death was announced on the Web site of Six of One — the Prisoner Official Appreciation Society, netreach.net/~sixofone, of which Mr. McGoohan was the honorary president for 32 years. His agent, Sharif Ali, said Mr. McGoohan had died suddenly after a brief illness.

Mr. McGoohan’s career ranged from success on the stages of London’s West End to starring in a popular spy series called “Secret Agent” in the United States. He was critically praised for his King Edward I in Mel Gibson’s 1995 film “Braveheart” and won Emmys as a guest star on “Colombo” in 1975 and 1990.

But it was as the lead character in “The Prisoner,” identified only as No. 6, that he struck a remarkable chord with audiences, one that has continued to reverberate in re-runs, festivals, university courses, doctoral theses and a quarterly magazine — all on the strength of just 17 episodes. The show’s legions of interpreters have perceived elements of the cold war, mob mentality, mind control and more in the show.

Broadcast on CBS in 1968 and 1969, “The Prisoner” tells the story of an unnamed spy who resigns his position and is then gassed in his apartment as he packs his bags. He wakes up in the Village, a resortlike community that is actually a high-tech prison. In each episode, No. 6 struggles with the camp authority figure, No. 2, who pressures him to say why he resigned. No. 2 is played by a different actor each time.

At the beginning of each episode, No. 6 declares: “I am not a number. I am a free man.”

“The Prisoner” remains “one of the most enigmatic and fascinating series ever produced for television” the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago said on its Web site, adding that some critics believe it to be “television’s first masterpiece.”

A question that has long intrigued fans is whether “The Prisoner” grew directly out of “Danger Man,” as “Secret Agent” was known in Britain. “Danger Man” began in London in 1960, then ran briefly on CBS in 1961 as a half-hour show before becoming an hourlong show on CBS in the mid-1960s.

A 1964 episode had Mr. McGoohan’s character, John Drake, infiltrating a spy school in the middle of nowhere that the instructors had scant hope of leaving. Did Drake later materialize as No. 6?

Mr. McGoohan always said no, although three episodes of “Danger Man” were shot at the Hotel Portmeirion resort, a series of fantasy buildings on the Welsh seacoast, which he acknowledged was an inspiration for the Village. He said in 1977 that boredom with “Danger Man” had inspired him to create “The Prisoner,” for which he wrote and directed some episodes.

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was born on March 19, 1928, in Astoria, Queens. When he was 6 months old, his parents returned to their native Ireland, then to Sheffield, England, when farming proved unprofitable. He dropped out of school at 16 and took jobs where he could find them, like working on a chicken farm.

Aspiring to the theater, Mr. McGoohan started as a stagehand at the Sheffield Playhouse and worked his way up to leading man. He went on to become well-known for Ibsen and Shakespeare roles and earned praise for his performance in 1955 in a West End production of “Moby Dick Rehearsed,” written and directed by Orson Welles. In 1951, he married Joan Drummond, an actress. She survives him, along with three daughters, Catherine, Anne and Frances; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

In the 1950s, Mr. McGoohan did a series of films for the Rank Organization, a British movie company. By the time he was the popular star of “Danger Man,” Mr. McGoohan was the highest-paid television actor in Britain.

Mr. McGoohan’s many film roles included a doctor in David Cronenberg’s 1981 film “Scanners,” itself a cult classic. In 1977, he starred in the television series “Rafferty” as a retired Army doctor adjusting to civilian life. He appeared on Broadway only once, in 1985, as a British spy in Hugh Whitmore’s “Pack of Lies,” for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk award as best actor.

In 2000, Mr. McGoohan reprised his role as No. 6, at least in voice, in an episode of “The Simpsons.” Homer Simpson, as No. 5, stole No. 6’s boat and escaped.

January 15, 2009
Patrick McGoohan, Star of ‘The Prisoner,’ Dies at 80
By DOUGLAS MARTIN