Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan Trivia and Quotes

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Trivia

  • His granddaughter, Sarah, was born in 1979. []
  • He played two British secret agents whose true names were never revealed: Number Six in The Prisoner and David Jones in Ice Station Zebra. []
  • Two of the actors who played his murder victims in Columbo also appeared in The Golden Girls: Rue McClanahan played Blanche Devereaux in every episode of the series while Leslie Nielsen played Lucas Hollingsworth in the finale "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1)" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (2)". []
  • Patrick McGoohan: "Freedom is a myth." []
  • Some people believe that his Danger Man character, John Drake, and his The Prisoner character, Number Six, are intended to the same person. The fact that Christopher Benjamin played the same character, Potter, in both the Danger Man episode "Koroshi" and The Prisoner episode "The Girl Who Was Death" lends credence to this belief. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (about The Prisoner) "I suppose that it is the sort of thing where a thousand people might have a different interpretation of it...that was the intention". []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (on his Danger Man character, John Drake) “I should never have thought of John Drake as a calm man but one with a constant potential of eruption. This is essential to any part. The audience must be aware of a man wanting to erupt into action.” []
  • He was a friend of Kenneth Griffith during the 1960s. They appeared in the Danger Man episode "Shinda Shima" and The Prisoner episodes "The Girl Who Was Death" and "Fall Out" together. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (speaking in 1969 on how little fame and riches had changed his life) “I still have the same home. I still drink the same beer. I still use the same pubs in London - usually the public bars because that’s where the action is. And I think I still have the same friends from my broke days - those that were real friends that is.” []
  • Since The Prisoner ended in 1968, he never once returned to Portmeirion, Wales, where it was filmed. []
  • In late 1967, he was in America filming Ice Station Zebra. As a result of this, he was written out almost entirely of The Prisoner episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling", appearing in only the final scene. In that episode, his character Number Six's mind was transferred into the body of another body, that of the Colonel, played by Nigel Stock. During this time, Number Six's own body remained in the Village. []
  • He was a big fan of Westerns. []
  • Due to complications arising from an operation, he was in a coma for most of 1992. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (on his wife's ability at gin-rummy) "She’s very good at it. I think we’re runnin’ neck and neck. We’ll play 10 games; if she wins, we go away for a weekend.” []
  • Patrick McGoohan: “My father did not take to the pace of New York. He farmed in Ireland, in County Leitrim, the poorest county in Ireland. Its only export is people. He made the farm go for eight years and then they emigrated again, this time to England.” []
  • He and his wife, Joan Drummond, remarried in September 1977. The reason for this was that at the time of their first wedding on May 19, 1951, they were both too busy rehearsing for theatre roles to have a church wedding. []
  • He and his family have lived in Southern California since 1968. []
  • He appeared in four different productions with Aubrey Morris: The Quare Fellow, Danger Man, The Prisoner and Columbo: Ashes to Ashes. []
  • He has five grandchildren. []
  • When he was a young man in the late 1950s, he was hailed as "Britain's most important film discovery" and it was predicted that he "should become a giant". []
  • This first film was The Dam Busters and his last thus far is Treasure Planet. []
  • He played his The Prisoner character, Number Six, in two spoofs of the series: The Laughing Prisoner and The Simpsons episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes". []
  • In 1955, he starred in a West End production of a play called Serious Charge, in the role of a priest accused of homosexuality. Orson Welles attended the peformance and was so impressed by McGoohan's stage presence ("intimidated" he admitted later), he cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick Rehearsed. []
  • His wife, Joan Drummond, was a real estate agent for many years. []
  • In 1948 at the age of 20, he was accepted to the Sheffield Repertory Theatre as a student stage manager. []
  • He enjoys writing poetry. []
  • He met his wife, Joan Drummond, at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre in 1950 when he was 22 and she was 19. She turned down his first proposal of marriage but accepted his second. []
  • He left school in 1944 when he was sixteen-years-old. He took a job with the Sheffield British Rope Company. His single year there had him reaching a position in the accounts and sales department. []
  • He turned down two roles that eventually went to Roger Moore: Simon Templar in The Saint and James Bond in Live and Let Die. []
  • Two of his most famous characters, Number Six in The Prisoner and the Warden in Escape from Alcatraz, were not given names. []
  • He is the only actor to appear in all 17 episodes of The Prisoner. []
  • He has worked with two actors with a glass eye: Leo McKern in The Prisoner episodes "The Chimes of Big Ben", "Once Upon A Time" and "Fall Out" and Peter Falk in various episodes of Columbo. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (on his initial intention when making The Prisoner) "I wanted to have controversy, argument, fights, discussions, people in anger waving first in my face saying, 'How dare you? Why don't you do more "Secret Agents" that we can understand?' I was delighted with that reaction. I think it's a very good one." []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (on how The Prisoner has been analysed and studied for many years) "I'm astonished! For instance, the beautiful presentation, the thing that you prepared for our good friends here, puts profounder meaning into many of the stories than I ever thought of." []
  • Patrick McGoohan: (on why he initially decided to develop The Prisoner) "Boredom, was how it started." []
  • He used two pseudonyms when writing for The Prisoner: Paddy Fitz for "Free for All" and Joseph Serf for "A Change of Mind". He also wrote "Once Upon A Time" and "Fall Out" using his own name. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: I must have individuality in everything I do. It’s not easy to find it always. I am an actor first although I’m now going into the fields of production, directing and writing too. I find all these challenges, this total involvement in everything I do, the most exciting way to live. A man must create pressure in his working life, something to which he can respond and must overcome. I question everything. I don’t accept anything on face value." []
  • As of 2006, he has retired from acting due to numerous health problems. []
  • Patrick McGoohan: "Mel [Gibson] will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a number." []
  • He wrote the script for the final episode of The Prisoner, "Fall Out", over two days in his dressing room. []
  • He directed at least one episode of all four series in which he starred: both series of Danger Man, The Prisoner and Rafferty. []
  • He was the title character of all four series in which he starred: both series of Danger Man (John Drake), The Prisoner (Number Six) and Rafferty (Dr. Sid Rafferty). []
  • He was the first choice to play both Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" films but turned down both roles, likely due to his ill health. []
  • He has been the honourary president of Six of One, the official appreciation society for The Prisoner, since its foundation of 1977. []
  • He was the first actor considered for the role of James Bond, before even Sean Connery, but turned down the role because of moral objections. []
  • He is a close friend of Peter Falk. []
  • He suffers from asthma. []
  • He took a job with the Sheffield British Rope Company at the age of 16 in 1944. []
  • His parents were Thomas McGoohan and Rose Fitzpatrick McGoohan. []
  • He has been married to Joan Drummond since May 19, 1951. They have three children, Catherine (b. 1952), Anne (b. 1959) and Frances (b. 1961). []
  • He played four different murderers in four different episodes of Columbo, more than anyone else. []
  • He is the father of Catherine McGoohan and Anne McGoohan. []
  • He wanted to be a Roman Catholic priest until he was fifteen. His mother had promised God before he was born that if her first child was a boy, he would become a priest. []

Quotes

  • Patrick McGoohan: "Marriage is a wonderful thing. It is more important to like the person you marry than it is to love them." []

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