Patrick McGoohan
Schlockhack
Rings" trilogy (which went to Ian McKellen) and Dumbledore in the
"Harry Potter" films (which went to Richard Harris and later to
Michael Gambon after Harris' death) but turned them down.
nmstevens
That's funny.
I heard that he was also up to play Jesse Montgomery III in Dude,
Where's my Car? but he turned it down and the part ultimately went to
Ashton Kutcher.
I also heard that he was offered the chance to play both Julie Powell
and Julia Child in Julie & Julia but ultimately turned down both parts
and Amy Adams and Meryl Streep were ultimately cast.
Now that you mention it, I also heard the Patrick McGoohan was also
originally offered the title role in Precious, but he turned that down
and it went to newcomer Gabby Sidibe.
And I also heard that Patrick McGoohan was the first choice to play
Megatron in the first Transformers movie, but he turned that down too
(and they never could cast it so it ultimately ended up being done
completely CGI).
NMS
Your Mom
mom was going through smack withdrawal and we were watching a marathon
of The Prisoner, and then the tall dude who looks just like and also
raised me came in and said she was just hallucinating.
Wordsmith
He was supposed to be the first James Bond also.
W : )
Uncle Arnold
me that he became an unreliable actor... but I've never seen any proper
evidence about that...
A.
Steven J. Weller
There's a remake of The Prisoner coming up, on some cable channel or
other (SyFy, maybe?). Seems unnecessary, but what the hell.
Patrick McGoohan was originally the lead in my high school play
(junior year) but at the last minute, it was discovered that he was
already fifty years old, and he was promptly expelled and escorted
from the building.
--
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven
Mysti Berry
He's one of my favorite actors, and I'm going to hunt you all down for
mocking him and make you watch the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, which I
have a copy of but you don't because it sold out immediately.
Then we'll watch his Colombo episodes, all the Secret Agents, and then
you'll realize the depth of your transgressions, you and NMS!
hmph.
Seriously, the dude worked pretty regularly (for an actor!) from at
least 1954 to 2002. Not all of it was brilliant, but he was focused
and professional and brought something unique to every role I've seen/
heard him in. He was a bit too subtle for most of his television work
(except the Colombo episodes)...and probably being smart and having
strong opinions doesn't help most actors get work. But he worked a
LOT. If you mean why did his leading roles disappear after Prisoner,
that's a different question and probably has as much to do with age-
ism and the changing times as anything.
He's dead. Stop picking on him or I'll cry.
Mysti-Mad-Crush-Berry
Wordsmith
>
> - Show quoted text -
He's not a number. He's a free spirit.
W : )
Schlockhack
that's a different question and probably has as much to do with age-
ism
sean connery got leading roles well into senior citizenhood. i think
mcgoohan's problem is that maybe casting agents only saw him in sean
connery roles, and onnery himself took the roles, so they didn't offer
mcgoohan anything else.
Moor Larkin
paid $1,000,000 by MGM in about 1969 for NOT making a movie: "Taipan".
So I figure after that, he thought NOT making movies was a pretty good
way to make a living.... :-))))
He seems to have had plenty of hobbies, amongst them screen-writing,
which seems to have made him quite unpopular with guys who did it for
a living.... :-)))
" According to McGoohan, before he could really answer, Falk
was telling him what he thought of the script. Knowing that his
guest
star was a talented writer, Falk asked him to polish the story.
McGoohan says he did a fair amount of rewriting on "By Dawn's
Early Light." "It needed fixing," he claimed.
Berk dismisses McGoohan's claims, calmly pointing out that the
Writers Guild decides who is entitled to credit."
http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/dawn2.htm
I love it when a real-life guy is called Berk.... :-)))))
Mysti Berry
Interesting idea!
Maybe also the fact that he had so much input into the
secret agent and prisoner that he only worked when the circumstances
were right.
Peter Falk called him a genuinely original person. And in my
experience, genuine originals frighten tinsel town.
Just sayin,
Mysti
Wordsmith
It's no wonder Kubrick lit out for England. No wonder at all.
W
Alan Brooks
It's not well known, but in "Debbie Does Dallas" he was the first choice for
the entire city of Dallas, but he turned it down, so they went with 15 other
guys.
Alan Brooks
---------------------------
A Schmuck with an Underwood
-- Bambi Would
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nmstevens
> "nmstevens" <nmstevens2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > On Nov 13, 10:11�pm, Schlockhack <Sar...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> He was the first choice for the roles of Gandalf in the "Lord of the
> >> Rings" trilogy (which went to Ian McKellen) and Dumbledore in the
> >> "Harry Potter" films (which went to Richard Harris and later to
> >> Michael Gambon after Harris' death) but turned them down.
>
> > That's funny.
>
> > I heard that he was also up to play Jesse Montgomery III in Dude,
> > Where's my Car? but he turned it down and the part ultimately went to
> > Ashton Kutcher.
>
> > I also heard that he was offered the chance to play both Julie Powell
> > and Julia Child in Julie & Julia but ultimately turned down both parts
> > and Amy Adams and Meryl Streep were ultimately cast.
>
> > Now that you mention it, I also heard the Patrick McGoohan was also
> > originally offered the title role in Precious, but he turned that down
> > and it went to newcomer Gabby Sidibe.
>
> > And I also heard that Patrick McGoohan was the first choice to play
> > Megatron in the first Transformers movie, but he turned that down too
> > (and they never could cast it so it ultimately ended up being done
> > completely CGI).
>
> It's not well known, but in "Debbie Does Dallas" he was the first choice for
> the entire city of Dallas, but he turned it down, so they went with 15 other
> guys.
>
You see, that's funny, because in the original Metropolis, Fritz Lang
originally intended to cast Patrick McGoohan in the title role -- as
Metropolis, but he turned the part down and they ultimately had to use
special effects to produce the vast, mechanized multi-leveled city of
the future.
Ironically enough, what few people know is that Patrick McMcGoohan was
offered the title role of Berlin, Symphony of the City -- and he *did*
actually play the part, uncredited. And if you watch that movie today,
you would barely recognize him, playing the city of Berlin as it
existed in the year 1927.
That, of course, explains why he later declined to play the title role
in Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz, seeing as he'd already played
the part.
He was also offered the part of "The World" in "The World according to
Garp" but he turned down the part and, as we all know, it was
subsequently played by Orson Welles.
NMS
Alan Brooks
Well, nobody wants to be type-cast.
> He was also offered the part of "The World" in "The World according to
> Garp" but he turned down the part and, as we all know, it was
> subsequently played by Orson Welles.
In "2001: A Space Odyssey" he was Hal AND he was Space. In post he and
Kubrick had a falling-out over the split-screen effect that allowed him to
be in the frame twice at the same time, and he refused to accept either
payment or credit.
Which is why in the original theatrical release (you won't even see it in
the DVD) he's only mentioned for his cameo as Io.
Alan Brooks
---------------------------
A Schmuck with an Underwood
-- Real Gravitas.
nmstevens
Well, of course, we all know that he turned down the title role in
Disney's "The Black Hole" but he later went on to play the entire
Universe in 2007's "Across the Universe."
One would think that playing the Universe would be the final feather
in any actor's cap, but for Patrick McGoohan, of course, it was really
covering old ground, since he'd earlier played the part of
"Everything, in "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything."
NMS
Alan Brooks
The big roles are fine -- who didn't love him in "The Unbearable Lightness
of Being" as Being itself? But it's for all his small cameos -- often done
uncredited and for little more than his love of cinema -- that his fans
remember him. His portrayal of the stone tablets in "The 10 Commandments",
a simple tumbleweed in "How The West Was Won" and his recurring work as
Granny Clampet's apron on television's "The Beverly Hillbillies". The man
could simply disappear into a role. Or a roll. It didn't matter.
Alan Brooks
---------------------------
A Schmuck with an Underwood
-- Tom Cruise's hair:
"The Last Samurai"
MC
nmstevens <nmstev...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> ...but for Patrick McGoohan, of course, it was really
> covering old ground, since he'd earlier played the part of
> "Everything, in "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything."
Thus prompting the question, "Everything! You wanted to know about sex?"
--
"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
Moor Larkin
> In article <hee67c$6...@reader1.panix.com>,
>
> �nmstevens <nmstevens2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > ...but for PatrickMcGoohan, of course, it was really
> > covering old ground, since he'd earlier played the part of
> > "Everything, in "The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything."
>
> Thus prompting the question, "Everything! You wanted to know about sex?"
>
> --
>
> "If you can, tell me something happy."
> - Marybones
Somebody at imdb says that McGoohan was the number one script doctor
in Hollywood!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1043714/board/flat/151594425?p=2&d=151741211#151741211
Does Hollywood have 'Script Doctors' ?
Skipper
<moorl...@googlemail.com> wrote:
If you can find one. Most of them are like nurses in training.
Mysti Berry
>
> Does Hollywood have 'Script Doctors' ?
There are quite a few (dozens? hundreds?) of writers whose name never
gets WGA credit, but who tinker with scripts. Some of them are great
with dialog or characterization ( Carrie Fisher, John Sayles, both of
whom have solid careers in other roles), some of them not so great.
You'd be surprised who gets work--I was! I haven't been privvy to this
info since I left LA a frikkin' decade ago, but I doubt it has
changed.
Do not confuse actual writers who are called in to "fix" scripts
(sometimes to good effect, sometimes to the death of the project) with
folks who may *call* themselves script doctors to take large hunks of
your cash for advice you could get far cheaper elsewhere. Vet anyone
before giving them money, there are more and more folks who are less
and less qualified to be giving you advice. (or so it seems to me--I
blame the recession).
Myti
Mysti Berry
Well, I couldn't even spell my own name right, so it's not surprising
that
I also forgot my disclaimer -- my snarky comment about fake script
doctors
does *not* refer to any regular poster on this list! I saw a ton of
underqualified people
start working the newbie screenwriters in my area, reaching out from
LA. But none
of them ever post here.
Mysti