most recent information about the paddy's passing:

[valerie m.]

By Dennis McLellan 
9:57 AM PST, January 14, 2009

Patrick McGoohan, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series "Secret Agent" and "The Prisoner" and was known for playing various villainous roles in films and on television, has died. He was 80.

McGoohan died peacefully Tuesday in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness, said Cleve Landsberg, McGoohan's son-in-law. The family did not provide further details.

It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in "Secret Agent," a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government.

The hour-long series, which ran on CBS until 1966, was an expanded version of "Danger Man," a short-lived, half-hour series on CBS in 1961 in which McGoohan played the same character.

But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, "The Prisoner," on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic.

Once described in The Times as an "espionage tale as crafted by Kafka," "The Prisoner" starred McGoohan as a British agent who, after resigning his post, is abducted and held captive by unknown powers in a mysterious village, where he known only as No. 6.

McGoohan created and executive-produced the series, which ran for only 17 episodes. He also wrote and directed several episodes.

Among the memorable villains he played on screen was England's sadistic King Edward I in Mel Gibson's 1995 film "Braveheart."

As a guest star on TV's "Columbo, McGoohan won Emmys in 1975 and 1990.

--
your hair and dress in ribbons
babycakes

[Moor Larkin]

Patrick McGoohan, 80; TV's "The Prisoner"

January 22, 2009

Michael Aushenker , Staff Writer
Palisadian Post

Patrick McGoohan, the Emmy Award-winning actor who in the late 1960s
created, produced and starred in the cult-classic television series
'The Prisoner,' died on January 13. The longtime Pacific Palisades
resident was 80.

At the peak of James Bond's popularity in 1965, the multi-talented
McGoohan appeared as John Drake in the CBS series 'Secret
Agent' (known in Britain as 'Danger Man').

''Secret Agent' was the first British series ever filmed for American
primetime,' McGoohan's widow, Joan Drummond McGoohan told the
Palisadian-Post. 'It was a huge hit. It gave him a lot of clout.'

Enter 'The Prisoner,' a British-produced program on CBS in 1968 and
1969. McGoohan played the enigmatic erstwhile secret agent, No. 6, who
one day wakes up in his prison, an island with a manufactured township
called The Village, teeming with surveillance equipment. The show
resembled an Orwellian exercise of surreal paranoia.

'Patrick wrote the first script,' said Joan, his wife of 58 years. 'He
outlined the stories. Technically, there was a story editor, but it
was rubbish. He wrote a lot of them, even under different names:
Archibald Schwartz, Paddy Fitz.'

She singled out the penultimate episode, which McGoohan wrote, as
having 'some of the best acting I've ever seen on television.' She
remembered how unhappy viewers were with the final installment, which
purposely left the show's running MacGuffin unresolved.

'People were furious,' she said. 'They thought they would find out who
No. 1 was. It was too surreal for most people.'

''The Prisoner' summed up what he felt,' Joan McGoohan continued. 'He
thought it was very contemporary. He was an independent thinker. He
followed all world happenings, the Middle East. He was a brilliant
mind. All sorts of people, when they met him, they listened. Where it
came from, I have no idea.'

After only 17 episodes, 'The Prisoner' left the air.

'In his mind, it was finished,' Joan McGoohan said. 'But then these
fan clubs turned up.' A cult following has since endured for decades.
Later this year, American Movie Classics will air a remake of the
series, starring James Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellan.

'They wanted Patrick to have some part in it,' McGoohan's wife said,
'but he adamantly didn't want to be involved. He had already done
it.'

McGoohan won two Emmys for acting in 'Columbo' in 1975 and 1990. He
also directed episodes of the original 1970s version of Peter Falk's
program, and was very involved behind the scenes of the 'Columbo' TV
movies that followed.

Born in 1928 to Irish parents in Queens, New York, McGoohan grew up in
Ireland until the age of 7, when his family moved to Sheffield,
England. In the late 1940s, he became a stage manager at Sheffield
Repertory Theatre, where he began acting and met actress Joan
Drummond. In 1959, McGoohan received a London Drama Critics Award for
his performance in Ibsen's 'Brand.'

'People who saw it had never forgot his performance, almost like some
mythical thing,' Joan McGoohan said. 'My only regret is that he didn't
play King Lear. Laurence Olivier had called him to play at the
National and he turned it down.'

But the role McGoohan treasured most can be seen in the 1991 PBS
production 'The Best of Friends,' opposite John Gielgud, in which he
portrayed a legendary Irish playwright.

'He had his spirit,' his wife said. 'He was totally George Bernard
Shaw, that was just transcendent. He related to Shaw's irreverence,
his humor, his underlying gravitas.'

Thanks to the 1960s' 'Danger Man' series in Britain (the precursor of
'Secret Agent'), McGoohan was offered the chance to be the original
James Bond in feature films. He famously turned down the role, partly
because he dreaded the level of fame it might trigger.

'He never even thought twice about turning it down,' Joan McGoohan
said. 'He was the obvious choice. But he thought the role was cheap.
He wouldn't carry a gun and he wouldn't sleep with a different woman
every week.'

The McGoohans moved to Pacific Palisades in the mid-1970s, with
daughters Catherine, Anne and Frances; more recently, Joan has been an
agent in the local Sotheby's International Realty office.

Of 'The Prisoner''s enduring cult status, Patrick McGoohan, who played
the villainous King Edward I in Mel Gibson's 1995 film 'Braveheart,'
once said: 'Mel will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a
number.'

McGoohan's wife explained that he had clinched his role in
'Braveheart' by intimidating Gibson with a stare over lunch in
Malibu.

'Mel treated him beautifully as a director,' Joan McGoohan said.

Locally, the McGoohans frequented Sam's at the Beach restaurant in
Santa Monica Canyon. In the village, they dined at Modo Mio.

Joan McGoohan enjoyed a laugh at the notion that, in a sense, No. 6
never left 'the village.'

'He would get up at the crack of dawn, get the New York Times, and get
some coffee at Mort's or Starbucks,' she said. 'He wrote. Always,
always.'

Although she usually sleeps in, McGoohan told the Post last Friday, 'I
got up very early today. I thought, 'I'm doing Patrick's routine.'
It's just so precious, the start of the day. I'm going to try to
change my routine a bit and try to enjoy those moments.

'I feel we've had such wonderful times together. We were partners for
life. I feel very lucky.'

In addition to his wife and daughters, McGoohan is survived by five
grandchildren and a great-grandson. Private services were held on
Monday.

http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=4587

[valerie m.]

thanks for posting this last, moor.  it's absolutely lovely and so clear that they did indeed have one of the happiest marriages in hollywood.  they were lucky to have had each other.

[Moor Larkin]

Legendary actor Patrick McGoohan spent childhood in Drumreilly

Published Date: 23 January 2009
By Staff Reporter
by Fiona Heavey

The multifaceted actor Patrick McGoohan who spent many years of his
childhood in Corawallen, Drumreilly passed away last Tuesday, January
13 at St John's Health Centre in Santa Monica, California, following a
brief illness.

The 80 year old had enjoyed a successful acting career as well as
being a noted writer, director and producer. He is best remembered for
his roles in the 1960s cult classics ‘The Prisoner’ and ‘Danger Man’
and for his unforgettable role as King Edward Longshanks in the epic
movie ‘Braveheart.’

The two time Emmy Award winner was born in Queens, New York on March
19, 1928 to Leitrim parents Thomas McGoohan from Drumreilly and Rose
Fitzpatrick from Aughavas.

Shortly after Patrick was born, the family moved back to Mullaghmore,
Corawallen, the homeplace of Thomas McGoohan. The family lived and
worked on the ancestral farm for eight years before they moved to
Sheffield, England. There, Canon John White also from Corawallen
helped establish the family in Sheffield and got Patrick’s father a
job in the area.

Local, Pat Conefrey from Corawallen explained that Patrick went to
school in Dohern NS, two miles from where he lived on his father’s
homeplace. “There is not much left of the family home where Patrick
was reared only some sheds and the front wall of the house,” he told
the Leitrim Observer. Pat also said elderly people in the locality
remember Patrick’s mother who was a dressmaker and used to make
clothes for children.

McGoohan, who wanted to be a Catholic Priest until he was 15, spoke of
his childhood in an interview after his rise to success, he said, “My
father did not take to the pace of New York. He farmed in Ireland, in
Co Leitrim, the poorest county in Ireland. It’s only export is people.
He made the farm go for eight years and then they emigrated again,
this time to England.”

The actor later recalled that his mother had promised God before he
was born that if her first child was a boy he would become a priest.

He continued his connection with Ireland later in life appearing in a
film version of ‘The Quare Fellow.’

McGoohan left school aged sixteen and worked variously as a chicken
farmer, a bank clerk, a lorry driver and in a factory before getting a
job as a stage manager at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When one of the
actors became ill, Patrick filled in, launching his acting career.

He is lovingly remembered as the hero of 1960s TV series The Prisoner
and Danger Man. He appeared in many movies such as Braveheart, Ice
Station Zebra, Silver Streak, Shake hands with the Devil, A Time to
Kill and The man in the Iron Mask.

He was rumoured to have turned down the role of James Bond for the
famous Dr No film.

In 2000, he reprised his role as Number Six (The Prisoner) in an
episode of The Simpsons, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes".

McGoohan's last film was a voice role in the animated film Treasure
Planet, released in 2002.

At the time of his death, McGoohan was retired and living in Los
Angeles with his wife, Joan Drummond McGoohan. Along with his three
daughters, he had five grandchildren and last year he had become a
great-grandfather.
http://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/Legendary-actor-Patrick-McGoohan-spent.4895067.jp?articlepage=2

[Moor Larkin]

PATRICK McGOOHAN

1928 - 2009

My wife, Elaine, and I were stunned to hear of Patrick's passing this
week. He, as many of you know, was both a longtime business associate
and very close friend. Patrick did his last interview, ever, (for
Disney's DVD release of "DR. SYN ALIAS THE SCARECROW") for me even
though there wasn't anything he hated more. I am eternally grateful
for his work, his legacy and his friendship.I will never forget the
time my wife and I sat with him at his breakfast table at his
beautiful home in Pacific Palisades while he did one-man plays for us
while jumping up every few minutes to make us another coffee. A lot of
people don't realise what an incredible sense of humor Patrick had. It
was very dry but infectious and once you were witness to it you could
see it, in everything he did...even in the Prisoner. Patrick was the
warmest, classiest, most thoughtful and meticulous person we have ever
known.

Patrick McGoohan's professional accomplishments and impeccable
personal reputation are widely known and well documented so we will
not reiterate them here. Instead, we'd like to reflect on and share a
few personal thoughts about this fine man. What started as just
another business association eventually became a true and treasured
friendship. Beneath the great intellect, which was so evident in his
flagship work, THE PRISONER, was an extremely warm and gracious
nature. No. 6 and Kind Edward the Longshanks may have been less than
cordial characters but Patrick McGoohan had true heart and a generous
spirit. Though his fans are legion, he remained humble and was both
unwilling and uncomfortable in talking about himself. Even in writing
this memorial, I can't help but feel a bit of a sense of betrayal to
that modest side and am certain he would disapprove mightily of all
the glowing words being written by so many this past week. For most,
what will be missed is his work and the promise of more in the future;
for us, it will be the deep chuckle over the phone, the dry wit in a
note and the teasing wink of a blue eye. We will miss our dear friend
for a very long time.

Rest in peace, Patrick.

Larry and Elaine Green

http://www.jamesbondposterpage.com/