Thursday, January 15, 2009

RIP Patrick McGoohan


Patrick McGoohan was born on the 19th March 1928 in the U.S but grew up in Co. Leitrim in Ireland and later in England. He always identified himself as being Irish. He started his acting career on the stage before moving to TV. In the sixties he starred in the British tv series Danger Man as secret agent John Drake. The series was very successful and broke the US market under the name of Secret Agent Man. After Danger Man, McGoohan went on to write, direct and star in The Prisoner, about ex-secret agent No.6 who is held captive in the nightmarish 'village'. It is the role he will be best remembered for. Due to the success of The Prisoner he moved to L.A where he lived for the rest of his life. In the seventies and eighties his most notable acting appearances were in detective series Columbo. At one time he was tipped to take over the title role from Peter Falk. More recently he appeared as Long Shanks in Braveheart and as Billy Zane's father in The Phantom. He retired from show business in 2002. Among parts he turned down were Simon Templar in the tv series 'The Saint', James Bond, Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings' and Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies. He died on Tuesday 13th January aged 80. He is survived by his wife Joan, three children and five grandchildren.
Rest in peace Paddy.
Patrick McGoohan was on my list of people that I would like to meet/contact. However, I never wrote to him although I meant to many times. Now it is to late. I must write to the other people on my list before it is too late. Do you have a list of people you would like to meet? Who is on it?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

R.I.P Paddy, you have finally left the village.
Sad to hear of his death but still, he had a long and good life. Pity you didn't write to him as he is one of the few who I think would actually have read it and perhaps even replied.

Valinora Troy said...

I'm sorry to hear this news. Paddy Fitz (as he like to call himself) is one of my favourite actors.

Get going on your list, Inkpot!!!

Unknown said...

Well..... I don't have anyone in particular I'd like to meet or write too. But that's an idea. I will 'make up' that list soon.

I wrote to Terry Pratchett once (a long long long time ago) and he did reply. Just saying I love his books. I lost the letter.

Inkpot said...

I agree Anon. I think he would have replied.

it is a sad day VT. I better start on the list all right.

That was nice Terry replied, Shadowthorne. It is a pity you have lost the letter, especially in light of his illness.