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Ian Rakoff is known for his work on Deliverance (1972), The Flight of the Eagle (1982) and If.... (1968).

Ian Rakoff is a screenwriter, film editor, comic book collector and author of Inside The Prisoner: Radical Television and Film in the 1960s . He has worked with major British directors including Lindsay Anderson on If…. , Hugh Hudson on the Tarzan film Greystoke and with Stephen Frears and Nic Roeg. He also wrote the Western episode of Patrick McGoohan’s TV series The Prisoner . His lifelong passion for comics led to his compiling a significant representative collection of mainly American comics, from vintage turn-of-the-century newspaper strips to today’s graphic novels, which the Victoria & Albert Museum acquired in 1990 for The National Art Library. This year the V&A added to The Rakoff Collection of Graphic Literature by purchasing a further thematic collection of pre-Code American romance comic books.

To celebrate the ongoing commitment of the V&A to comics culture, Ian Rakoff and Paul Gravett have devised a One Day Symposium: Archetypes v Stereotypes in Comics and Graphic Novels, in association with Comica 08, combined with an evening event featuring Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie, to be held at the V&A on Friday 14 November. Ian Rakoff will be giving the Keynote speech entitled "Art of the Century: Stereotypes, Prejudice and Grammar in Frame-Culture (Film and Comics)."

The following interview with Ian Rakoff was conducted by Mark Ward.

Marc Ward: Tell us a little about your background.

Ian Rakoff: I grew up in South Africa during the forties and fifties under apartheid and needed a moral compass which I found in banned literature and comic books, particularly Captain Marvel . I was in trouble at school because of my attitude to our system of governance, fuelled by observation of the dystopian environment, generated by Superheroes, Westerns and Crime. When I was twelve I wrote a serial in a school magazine - which I edited - about a heavyweight title boxer. It being a white boys’ school, the writing about a black hero I was vilified and the magazine banned. At fourteen I gave a politicised talk. I got beaten up by the boys, and caned by the deputy headmaster. The school had a confusion of values, caught between traditional liberalism and the draconian race laws of the land. I was repeatedly in rebellion against the system. Any other school would have expelled me. At seventeen a psychologist directed my parents to force me to give up comics, for being the cause of my lack of conformity. Losing that safety valve drove me berserk for years until political commitment reined me in. However, that subversive association forced me to flee the country.

Did your collecting of comics restart when you settled in England?

Not initially, but after a broken engagement and deep despondency, I drifted back into that childhood culture via the Popular Book Exchange which had shops all over London. There I discovered The Amazing Spider-Man   whose realism and day-to-day struggle for survival, while secretly being a Superhero, appealed to me tremendously. Within a short time I’d again become an avid comic reader and a monthly subscriber to Magnus Robot Fighter ; Tarzan ; Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom ; and Turok, Son of Stone .

Would it be fair to say that you collected by genre, that you have different tastes as time goes on?

Genre was a major factor because that was the best, most accessible way to store a collection. It’s the way the publishers work, and the way kids think. Westerns were my favourites. Partially because of exciting vistas and the simplification of right and wrong. The link to the movies was another spur. However, it was the clear line, wit, and social sensibility of Captain Marvel that attracted me strongly. Batman too was always appealing and never dimmed, no matter which direction they took the narrative over the years.

What I avoided in childhood was Romance comics. That was girlie stuff and like crime comics had too many words. I read books for words but I read comics for words and pictures. I wanted the image to breathe and expand within the frame. I disliked figures squashed down by the weight of words. Recently I dipped into the Romance genre which I’d dismissed in my youth. I nearly fell off my perch when I realised they weren’t teen stuff but breathtaking, magnificent, hard-core reality, about relating and suffering, influenced by the dark corners of film noir. Researching, I learnt Romance had dominated the market from 1949 until they were killed off by the witch-hunters of McCarthyism in 1954. I got my American dealer to track down Romance, initially plentiful and cheap. Then, word got out and prices soared, but I’d already acquired enough for a museum collection (years back, Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, museum director at the time, warned me this would happen). This collection now belongs to the V&A.

There is a duality with a lot of that genre fiction - the colonialism side by side with a love of the native culture.

There’s no less ambivalence and contradiction in comics than there is in literature, evident in those stirring boys’ own books of times gone by. Steeped in humanistic, liberal sentiment but beleaguered by arrogant, naive, distasteful values. Rider Haggard was known to be devoted to the Zulus but what he wrote about Africa may have romped along in rip-snorting fashion, but was suffused with class snobbery, and a patronising, racist sentiment. It was deeply ingrained and no bleaching could eradicate it, whereas Conan Doyle never displayed that privileged kind of nonsense, even if he did believe in faeries. The Fiction House publications, Sheena , and a host of other jungle girls, bursting out of tigerskin bikinis, swinging vines, cracking whips and bearing white man justice over African inferiors were an absurdity. Tarzan , by Jesse Marsh, created a language of his own on Africa, with a minimal regard to Rice Burroughs. His chunky figures danced the brooding landscape like hewn stone, and you could feel the waterfalls thunder, and the rains lashing while tribal ignorance intruded on the occasional page. I bought a near complete run of Hal Foster’s Tarzan Sunday colour newspaper pages from 1931 to 1933. The dealer lamented that no one else wanted poor condition - investors wanted mint condition. Lucky me, lucky museum.

What is your obsession at the moment, what are you collecting now?

At the back of The Lone Ranger from the forties ran Young Hawk . With an epic look, and an authentic feel, this serial follows two lost Mandan boys and their dog across North America, before the horse culture and the arrival of the white man. Their adventures cover the lives of different tribes, social mores and the ways of war and conflict. On achieving a complete run (circa 1948 — 1962) I hope to get Young Hawk reprinted in one volume.

I also collect Tonto comics because away from his master, or masked lover, The Lone Ranger, it’s an entirely different story. Tonto visits his tribe bringing justice, sensitivity and history with better scripting than when with his partner. I look out for any native American material, though many are shoot-em-up cowboys, or leggy dames, whites adopted by ‘redskins’ now in skimpy attire as personified in the Fiction House publications. I am drawn to anything reprinted from the newspaper strips into comic hook format, especially from the thirties and forties, but especially the classics on the American psyche. Little Orphan Annie , for one, wrapped in magic realism, is a social document of no lesser significance than those of other renowned philosophers on Capitalism from Steinbeck to Dreisser.

How did the link up with the V&A happen?

When I reached London in the sixties my favourite cultural haunt was the V&A and for decades I dreamt of comics in the museum. At the end of the eighties I had what I considered a viable collection, 16,000 comics. My flat was overcrowded. Time to approach the museum. I contacted the wrong person in the wrong department, who gruffly reprimanded me but then exclaimed he was the right person as Chief Librarian and Keeper of the National Art Library. He steered me along and after a year we had a package, an irrefutable case and the trustees passed it. I’d got friends from the comic book world to muck in and help sorting and cataloguing. The main help was a film animator, David Clarvis. When he passed away he left his collection of Disney comics for me to take care of which got accepted by the V&A.

If you had to choose your Desert Island comic, what would you take away with you?

Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie ; Roy Crane’s Captain Easy ; Jesse Marsh’s Tarzan and Gene Autry ; H.G. Peter’s Wonder Woman ; Classics Illustrated ; C.C. Beck’s Captain Marvel Adventures ; Love & Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers. That should keep my going for a while, but I need to reserve the option to extend the list.

The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in Canada beginning on 6 September 1967 then in the United Kingdom on 29 September 1967 and in the United States on 1 June 1968. It stars and was co-created by Patrick McGoohan, and combines spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.

The series follows a British former secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a mysterious coastal village resort, where his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. Although the show was sold as a thriller in the mould of the previous series starring McGoohan, Danger Man (1960–68; retitled as Secret Agent in the US), its combination of 1960s countercultural themes and surrealistic setting had a far-reaching influence on science fiction and fantasy TV programming, and on narrative popular culture in general.

A TV miniseries remake aired on the US cable channel AMC between 15 and 17 November 2009. This was followed by another remake as an audio drama in 2015 by Big Finish Productions.

Plot summary

The series follows an unnamed man (played by Patrick McGoohan) who, after abruptly and angrily resigning from his job, apparently prepares to make a hurried departure from the country. While packing his luggage, he is rendered unconscious by knockout gas piped into his London flat. When he wakes, he finds himself in a recreation of his apartment, located in a mysterious seaside "village" within which he is held captive, isolated from the mainland by mountains and sea. The Village is further secured by numerous monitoring systems and security forces including a militarized, balloon-based device called Rover that recaptures or destroys those who attempt escape. The man encounters the Village's population: hundreds of people from all walks of life and cultures, all seeming to be peacefully living out their lives. They do not use names, but have been assigned numbers which give no clue as to any person's status within the Village, whether as inmate or guard. Potential escapees therefore have no idea whom they can and cannot trust. The protagonist is assigned Number Six, but he repeatedly refuses the pretence of his new identity.

Number Six is monitored heavily by Number Two, the Village administrator, who acts as an agent for the unseen "Number One". A variety of techniques are used by Number Two to try to extract information from Number Six, including hallucinogenic drug experiences, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation, and various forms of social indoctrination and physical coercion. All of these are employed not only to find out why Number Six resigned as an agent, but also to elicit other purportedly dangerous information he gained as a spy. The position of Number Two is filled in by various other characters on a rotating basis. Sometimes this is part of a larger plan to confuse Number Six; at other times, it seems to be a change of personnel made as a result of failure to successfully interrogate Number Six.

Number Six, distrustful of anyone involved with the Village, refuses to co-operate or provide the answers they seek. He struggles, usually alone, with various goals, such as determining for which side of the Iron Curtain the Village works, if indeed it works for any at all; remaining defiant to its imposed authority; concocting his own plans for escape; learning all he can about the Village; and subverting its operation. His schemes lead to the dismissals of the incumbent Number Two on two occasions, although he never escapes. By the end of the series, the administration, becoming desperate for Number Six's knowledge as well as fearful of his growing influence in the Village, takes drastic measures that threaten the lives of Number Six, Number Two, and the rest of the Village.

A major theme of the series is individualism, as represented by Number Six, versus collectivism, as represented by Number Two and the others in the Village. McGoohan stated that the series aimed to demonstrate a balance between the two points.

Actors who played a character in multiple episodes

Actors who played the same role in more than one episode are:

  • Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner/Number Six

  • Angelo Muscat as The Butler

  • Peter Swanwick as Supervisor

  • Leo McKern as Number Two

  • Colin Gordon as Number Two

  • Denis Shaw as The Shop Keeper

  • Fenella Fielding as The Announcer/Telephone Operator

  • Frank Maher as McGoohan's stand-in and stunt/fight double

Actors who played Number Two
  • George Baker

  • David Bauer

  • Patrick Cargill

  • Georgina Cookson

  • Guy Doleman

  • Clifford Evans

  • Colin Gordon

  • Kenneth Griffith

  • Leo McKern

  • Mary Morris

  • Derren Nesbitt

  • Eric Portman

  • Robert Rietti (voice)

  • Anton Rodgers

  • John Sharp

  • André van Gyseghem

  • Peter Wyngarde

Other actors who appeared in the 1967–68 series
  • Annette Andre

  • Sheila Allen

  • Nike Arrighi

  • Kenneth Benda

  • Christopher Benjamin

  • Michael Billington

  • Michael Bilton

  • Peter Bowles

  • Angela Browne

  • James Bree

  • Earl Cameron

  • Annette Carrell

  • John Castle

  • Dennis Chinnery

  • George Coulouris

  • Rosalie Crutchley

  • Bill Cummings

  • Hilary Dwyer

  • Paul Eddington

  • Mark Eden

  • Max Faulkner

  • Valerie French

  • David Garfield

  • Nadia Gray

  • Lucy Griffiths

  • Rachel Herbert

  • Basil Hoskins

  • Peter Howell

  • Alf Joint

  • Alexis Kanner

  • Katherine Kath

  • Gertan Klauber

  • Lloyd Lamble

  • Jon Laurimore

  • Jack Le White

  • Charles Lloyd-Pack

  • Justine Lord

  • Duncan Macrae

  • Victor Maddern

  • Frank Maher

  • Sheena Marshe

  • Virginia Maskell

  • John Maxim

  • Betty McDowall

  • Jane Merrow

  • Martin Miller

  • Norman Mitchell

  • Aubrey Morris

  • Bartlett Mullins

  • David Nettheim

  • Frederick Piper

  • George Pravda

  • Keith Pyott

  • Ronald Radd

  • John Rees

  • Hugo Schuster

  • Donald Sinden

  • Patsy Smart

  • Gordon Sterne

  • Nigel Stock

  • Kevin Stoney

  • Larry Taylor

  • Wanda Ventham

  • Zena Walker

  • Norma West

  • Alan White

Notes

McGoohan was the only actor credited during the opening sequence, with Angelo Muscat the only actor considered a 'co-star' of the series. Several actors—including Alexis Kanner, Christopher Benjamin, Georgina Cookson, Kenneth Griffith and Patrick Cargill—appeared in more than one episode, playing different characters. Griffith appeared in "The Girl Who Was Death" and "Fall Out"; while he did play Number Two in "The Girl Who Was Death", his character in "Fall Out" may be the same character after the assignment of Number Two was passed to someone else (or, given events, abandoned). There is also a theory that Cargill played the same character in his two episodes; the Number Two that he plays in "Hammer into Anvil" may or may not be the same character as Thorpe, the aide to Number Six's superior, from "Many Happy Returns". Maher, McGoohan's stunt double, can be seen at the start of almost every episode, running across the beach; he also appears extensively in "The Schizoid Man" and in "Living in Harmony" as Third Gunman.

Production

Origin

The show was created while Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein were working on Danger Man (known as Secret Agent in the US), an espionage show produced by Incorporated Television Company (also called ITC Entertainment). The exact details of who created which aspects of the show are disputed; majority opinion credits McGoohan as the sole creator of the series. However, a disputed co-creator status was later ascribed to Markstein after a series of fan interviews were published in the 1980s. The show itself bears no "created by" credit.

Some sources indicate McGoohan was the sole or primary creator of the show. McGoohan stated in a 1977 interview (broadcast as part of a Canadian documentary about The Prisoner called The Prisoner Puzzle ) that during the filming of the third season of Danger Man he told Lew Grade, managing director of ITC Entertainment, that he wanted to quit working on Danger Man after the filming of the proposed fourth series. Grade was unhappy with the decision, but when McGoohan insisted upon quitting, Grade asked if McGoohan had any other possible projects; McGoohan later pitched The Prisoner . However, in a 1988 article from British Telefantasy magazine Time Screen , McGoohan indicated that he had planned to pitch The Prisoner prior to speaking to Grade. In both accounts, McGoohan pitched the idea orally, rather than having Grade read the proposal in detail; and the two made an oral agreement for the show to be produced by Everyman Films, the production company formed by McGoohan and David Tomblin. In the 1977 account, McGoohan said that Grade approved of the show despite not understanding it, while in the 1988 account Grade expressed clear support for the concept.

Other sources, however, credit Markstein, then a script editor for Danger Man , with a significant or even primary portion of the development of the show. For example, Dave Rogers, in the book The Prisoner and Danger Man , said that Markstein claimed to have created the concept first and McGoohan later attempted to take credit for it, though Rogers himself doubted that McGoohan would have wanted or needed to do that. A four-page document, generally agreed to have been written by Markstein, setting out an overview of the themes of the series, was published as part of an ITC/ATV press book in 1967. It has usually been accepted that this text originated earlier as a guide for the series writers. Further doubt has been cast on Markstein's version of events by author Rupert Booth in his biography of McGoohan, entitled Not A Number . Booth points out that McGoohan had outlined the themes of The Prisoner in a 1965 interview, long before Markstein's tenure as script editor on the brief fourth season of Danger Man .

At any rate, part of Markstein's inspiration came from his research into the Second World War, where he found that some people had been incarcerated in a resort-like prison called Inverlair Lodge. Markstein suggested that Danger Man' s main character John Drake (played by McGoohan) could suddenly resign and, consequently, be kidnapped and sent to such a location. McGoohan added Markstein's suggestion to material he had been working on, which later became The Prisoner . Furthermore a 1960 episode of Danger Man , entitled "View from the Villa", had exteriors filmed in Portmeirion, a Welsh resort village that struck McGoohan as a good location for future projects.

According to "Fantasy or Reality", a chapter of The Prisoner of Portmeirion , The Village is based, in part, on "a strange place in Scotland" operated by the Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB), wherein "people" with "valuable knowledge of one sort or another" were held prisoners on extended "holidays" in a "luxury prison camp." The Prisoner' s story editor, George Markstein, this source contends, knows of "the existence of this 'secure establishment." However, this "Scottish prison camp, in reality was not, of course, a holiday-type village full of people wearing colorful" clothing.

Further inspiration came from a Danger Man episode called "Colony Three", in which Drake infiltrates a spy school in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The school, in the middle of nowhere, is set up to look like a normal English town in which pupils and instructors mix as in any other normal city, but the instructors are virtual prisoners with little hope of ever leaving. McGoohan also stated that he was influenced by his experience from theatre, including his work in the Orson Welles play Moby Dick—Rehearsed (1955) and a BBC television play, The Prisoner by Bridget Boland. McGoohan wrote a forty-page show Bible, which included a: "history of the Village, the sort of telephones they used, the sewerage system, what they ate, the transport, the boundaries, a description of the Village, every aspect of it..." McGoohan wrote and directed several episodes, often using pseudonyms. Specifically, McGoohan wrote "Free for All" under the pen name "Paddy Fitz" (Paddy being the Irish diminutive for Patrick and Fitzpatrick being his mother's maiden name) and directed the episodes "Many Happy Returns" and "A Change of Mind" using the stage name "Joseph Serf", the surname being ironically a word meaning a peasant who is under the control of a feudal master. Using his own name, McGoohan wrote and directed the last two episodes—"Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out"—and directed "Free for All".

In a 1966 interview for the Los Angeles Times by reporter Robert Musel, McGoohan stated: "John Drake of Secret Agent is gone." Furthermore, McGoohan stated in a 1985 interview that Number Six is not the same character as John Drake, adding that he had originally wanted another actor to portray the character. However, other sources indicate that several of the crew members who continued on from Danger Man to work on The Prisoner considered it to be a continuation, and that McGoohan was continuing to play the character of John Drake. Furthermore, Dave Rogers states that Markstein had wanted the character to be a continuation of Drake, but by doing so would have meant paying royalties to Ralph Smart, creator of Danger Man .

The issue has been debated by fans and TV critics, with some stating the two characters are the same, based on similarities in the shows, the characters, a few repeating actors beyond McGoohan, and certain specific connections in various episodes.

McGoohan had originally wanted to produce only seven episodes of The Prisoner , but Grade argued more shows were necessary in order for him to successfully sell the series to CBS. The exact number which was agreed to, along with how the series ended, is disputed by different sources.

In an August 1967 article, Dorothy Manners reported that CBS had asked McGoohan to produce 36 segments, but he would agree to produce only 17. According to a 1977 interview, Lew Grade requested 26 episodes; McGoohan thought this would spread the show too thin, but was able to come up with 17 episodes. However, according to The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series , the series was originally supposed to run longer but was cancelled, forcing McGoohan to write the final episode in only a few days.

The Prisoner had its British premiere on 29 September 1967 on ATV Midlands, and the last episode first aired on 1 February 1968 on Scottish Television. The world broadcast premiere was on the CTV Television Network in Canada on 5 September 1967.

Filming

Filming for the series began on 5 September 1966, primarily in Portmeirion village near Porthmadog, North Wales. This location partially inspired the show. At the request of Portmeirion's architect Clough Williams-Ellis, the main location for the series was not disclosed until the opening credits of the final episode. Many extras on the set were recruited from the local residents. The Village setting was further augmented by the use of the backlot facilities at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood.

Additionally, filming of a key sequence of the opening credits—and of exterior location filming for three episodes—took place at 1 Buckingham Place in London, which at the time was a private residence; it doubled as Number Six's home. The building still stands today; it is a highlight of Prisoner location tours, and currently houses the headquarters of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. The episodes "Many Happy Returns", "The Girl Who Was Death" (the cricket match for which was filmed at four different locations, with the main sequences filmed at Eltisley in Cambridgeshire) and "Fall Out" also made use of extensive location shooting in London and other locations.

INFORMATION ABOUT PATRICK McGOOHAN:

Patrick Joseph McGoohan (19 March 1928 – 13 January 2009) was an American-Irish actor, writer and director who was brought up in Ireland and England. He began his career in Great Britain in the 1950s, and relocated to the United States in the 1970s. His career defining roles were in the British 1960's television series Danger Man (US: Secret Agent ), and the surreal psychological drama The Prisoner , which he co-created.

Early life

McGoohan was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose (Fitzpatrick) and Thomas McGoohan, who were living in the United States after emigrating from Ireland to seek work. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Shortly after he was born, McGoohan's parents moved back to Mullaghmore, County Leitrim, Ireland, and seven years later, they moved to Sheffield, England.

McGoohan attended St Vincent's School and De La Salle College, Sheffield. During World War II, he was evacuated to Loughborough, Leicestershire. There he attended Ratcliffe College, where he excelled in mathematics and boxing. McGoohan left school at the age of 16 and returned to Sheffield, where he worked as a chicken farmer, a bank clerk and a lorry driver before getting a job as a stage manager at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When one of the actors became ill, McGoohan was substituted for him, launching his acting career.

Career

Early career

In 1955, McGoohan starred in a West End production of a play called Serious Charge in the role of a priest accused of being homosexual. Orson Welles was so impressed by McGoohan's stage presence ("intimidated," Welles would later say) that he cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed . Welles said in 1969 that he believed McGoohan "would now be, I think, one of the big actors of our generation if TV hadn't grabbed him. He can still make it. He was tremendous as Starbuck." and "with all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye."

His first film appearance was an uncredited role in The Dam Busters (1955), standing guard outside the briefing room. He delivered the line – "Sorry, old boy, it's secret – you can't go in. Now, c'mon, hop it!", which was cut from some prints of the movie.

While working as a stand-in during screen tests, McGoohan was signed to a contract with the Rank Organisation. The producers may have been more interested in capitalising on his boxing skill and appearance than his acting ability, casting him as the conniving bad boy in such films as Hell Drivers (1957) and the steamy potboiler The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958). After a few films and some clashes with the management, the contract was dissolved.

Free of the contract, he did some TV work, winning a BAFTA in 1960. His favourite part for the stage was the lead in Ibsen's Brand , for which he received an award. It appeared in a (still extant) BBC television production in August 1959.

1960s: Danger Man

Soon, production executive Lew Grade approached McGoohan about a television series in which he would play a spy named John Drake. Having learned from his experience at the Rank Organisation, he insisted on several conditions in the contract before agreeing to appear in the programme: all the fistfights should be different, the character would always use his brain before using a gun, and, much to the horror of the executives, no kissing. The series debuted in 1960 as Danger Man , a half-hour programme geared toward an American audience. It did fairly well, but not as well as hoped. Production lasted a year and 39 episodes. After this first series was over, one interviewer asked McGoohan if he would have liked the series to continue, to which he replied, "Perhaps, but let me tell you this: I would rather do twenty TV series than go through what I went through under that Rank contract I signed a few years ago and for which I blame no one but myself."

McGoohan was one of several actors considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No . While McGoohan, a Catholic, turned down the role on moral grounds, the success of the Bond films is generally cited as the reason for Danger Man being revived. He was later considered for the same role in Live and Let Die , but turned it down again.

Before that happened, McGoohan spent some time working for Disney on The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh . After he had also turned down the role of Simon Templar in The Saint , Lew Grade asked him if he would like to give John Drake another try. This time, McGoohan had even more say about the series. Danger Man (US: Secret Agent ) was resurrected in 1964 as a one-hour programme. The scripts now allowed McGoohan more range in his acting. The popularity of the series led to McGoohan becoming the highest paid actor in the UK, and the show lasted almost three more years. After shooting the two episodes of Danger Man in colour, McGoohan told Lew Grade he was going to quit for another show.

The Prisoner

In the face of McGoohan's intention to quit Danger Man , Grade asked if he would at least work on "something" for him. McGoohan gave him a run-down of what would later be called a miniseries, about a secret agent who resigns suddenly and wakes up to find himself in a prison disguised as a holiday resort. Grade asked for a budget, McGoohan had one ready, and they made a deal over a handshake early on a Saturday morning to produce The Prisoner . Apart from being the star of The Prisoner , McGoohan was the executive producer, forming Everyman Films with series producer David Tomblin, and also wrote and directed several episodes, in some cases using pseudonyms. The originally commissioned seven episodes became seventeen.

The title character of The Prisoner (the otherwise-unnamed "Number Six") spends the entire series trying to escape from a luxury island prison community called "The Village", and to learn the identity of his nemesis, Number One. The Village's administrators try just as hard to force or trick him into revealing why he resigned from his previous job as a spy, which he refuses to divulge. The location used was the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.

The Prisoner was a completely new, cerebral kind of series, stretching the limits of the established television formulae. Number Six became McGoohan's most recognisable character. Unfortunately, the role also became his prison: Number Six was so obsessively opposed to authority that whenever McGoohan later played characters who had anything to do with the concepts of individuality or freedom, the character was compared to his previous incarnation - for example, his portrayal of the warden in Escape from Alcatraz (1979). "Mel Gibson will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a Number," he was once quoted as saying.

Late 1960s to 1980s

McGoohan worked in cinema throughout his career, including Howard Hughes's favourite, Ice Station Zebra (1968), for which his performance as a psychologically tightly-wound British spy drew critical praise, and Silver Streak (1976). In 1977, he starred in the television series Rafferty , playing a former army doctor who has retired and moved into private practice. He also appeared in the cinema film Escape from Alcatraz (1979), portraying the prison's Governor. In 1981 he appeared in the science fiction/horror film Scanners .

He directed Richie Havens in a rock-opera version of Othello called Catch My Soul . In 1985, he appeared on Broadway for his only production there, starring opposite Rosemary Harris in Hugh Whitemore's Pack of Lies , in which he played another British spy. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Actor for his performance.

McGoohan received two Emmy Awards for his work on Columbo , with his long-time friend Peter Falk. McGoohan had said that his first appearance on Columbo (episode: "By Dawn's Early Light", 1974) was probably his favourite American role. He directed five Columbo episodes (including three of the four in which he appeared), one of which he also wrote and two of which he also produced. McGoohan was involved with the Columbo series in some capacity from 1974 to 2000 and his daughter Catherine McGoohan appeared with him in his final episode, Ashes to Ashes . The other two Columbo episodes in which he appeared are "Identity Crisis" (1975) and "Agenda For Murder" (1990).

1990s

McGoohan starred in The Best of Friends (1991) for the British Channel 4 network, which told the story of the unlikely friendship between a museum curator, a nun and a playwright. McGoohan played George Bernard Shaw alongside Sir John Gielgud as Sydney Cockerell and Dame Wendy Hiller as Sister Laurentia McLachlan. In the United States, the drama was shown as part of Masterpiece Theatre by PBS.

Also in this period he featured as King Edward I in Braveheart (1995), and as Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill (1996) and in The Phantom (also 1996) a cinema adaptation of the comic strip.

2000s

In 2000, he reprised his role as Number Six in an episode of The Simpsons , "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes." In it, Homer Simpson concocts a news story to make his website more popular, and he wakes up in a prison disguised as a holiday resort. Dubbed Number Five, he meets Number Six, and later betrays him and escapes with his boat; referencing his numerous attempts to escape on a raft in The Prisoner, Number Six splutters "That's the third time that's happened!"

McGoohan's last film role was as the voice of Billy Bones in the animated film Treasure Planet, released in 2002. That same year, he received the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for The Prisoner.

McGoohan's name was linked to several aborted attempts at producing a new film version of The Prisoner. In 2002, director Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ) was signed to helm a version of the story. McGoohan was listed as executive producer for the film, which never came to fruition. Later, Christopher Nolan was proposed as director for a film version. However, the source material remained difficult and elusive to adapt into a feature film. McGoohan was not involved in the project that was ultimately completed. A reimagining of the series was filmed for the AMC network in late 2008, with its broadcast taking place during November 2009.

Personal life

McGoohan fell in love with actress Joan Drummond, to whom he reportedly wrote love notes every day. They were married on 19 May 1951. They had three daughters, Catherine (born 1952), Anne (born 1959) and Frances (born 1960). The McGoohans settled in the Pacific Palisades district of Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1970s.

Death

McGoohan died on 13 January 2009 at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, following a brief illness. His body was cremated.

Biographies

A biography of the actor was first published in 2007 by Tomahawk Press, with a further biography published in 2011 by Supernova Books.

Filmography

Film

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1955

Passage Home

McIsaacs

1955

The Dark Avenger

English Soldier

Uncredited

1955

The Dam Busters

RAF Guard

Uncredited

1955

I Am a Camera

Swedish Water Therapist

1956

Zarak

Moor Larkin

1957

High Tide at Noon

Simon Breck

1957

Hell Drivers

C. 'Red' Redman

1958

The Gypsy and the Gentleman

Jess

1958

Nor the Moon by Night

Andrew Miller

1961

Two Living, One Dead

Erik Berger

1962

All Night Long

Johnny Cousin

1962

Life for Ruth

Doctor James 'Jim' Brown

1962

The Quare Fellow

Thomas Crimmin

1963

The Three Lives of Thomasina

Andrew McDhui

1963

Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow

Dr. Christopher Syn

1968

Ice Station Zebra

David Jones

1970

The Moonshine War

Frank Long

1971

Mary, Queen of Scots

James Stuart

1974

Catch My Soul

n/a

Director

1975

A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe

Major Cabot

1976

Silver Streak

Roger Devereau

1977

The Man in the Iron Mask

Fouquet

1978

Brass Target

Colonel Mike McCauley

1979

Escape from Alcatraz

Warden

1981

Scanners

Doctor Paul Ruth

1981

Kings and Desperate Men

John Kingsley

1984

Trespasses

Fred Wells

1985

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend

Doctor Eric Kiviat

1995

Braveheart

Longshanks, King Edward I

1996

The Phantom

Phantom's Dad

1996

A Time to Kill

Judge Omar Noose

1997

Hysteria

Dr. Harvey Langston

2002

Treasure Planet

Billy Bones

Voice, (final film role)

Television

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1955

The Vise

Tony Mason

1 episode ("Gift from Heaven")

1958

The Vise

Vance

1 episode ("Blood in the Sky")

1958

Armchair Theatre

Jack 'Pal' Smurch

1 episode ("The Greatest Man in the World")

1959

Brand

Priest Brand

Henrik Ibsen play

1961

Armchair Theatre

Nicholai Soloviov

1 episode ("The Man Out There")

1960–62 1964–67

Danger Man

John Drake

39 + 47 episodes. Also directed three episodes.

1963

Disneyland

Doctor Christopher Syn/ Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

3 episodes

1967–68

The Prisoner

Number Six

17 episodes. Also directed five episodes.

1969

Journey into Darkness

Host

Made-for-TV film

1974

Columbo

Colonel Lyle C. Rumford

1 episode ("By Dawn's Early Light")

1975

Columbo

Nelson Brenner

1 episode ("Identity Crisis"). Also directed.

1976

Columbo

n/a

1 episode ("Last Salute to the Commodore") – director

1977

Rafferty

Doctor Sid Rafferty

13 episodes. Also directed one episode.

1979

The Hard Way

John Connor

Made-for-TV film

1983

Jamaica Inn

Joss Merlyn

1985

American Playhouse

Chief magistrate

3 episodes ("Three Sovereigns for Sarah" parts I, II & III)

1987

Murder, She Wrote

Oliver Quayle

1 episode ("Witness for the Defense")

1990

Columbo

Oscar Finch

1 episode ("Agenda for Murder"). Also directed.

1998

Columbo

Eric Prince

"Ashes to Ashes". Also directed.

2000

Columbo

n/a

1 episode ("Murder with Too Many Notes") – director

2000

The Simpsons

Number Six

1 episode ("The Computer Wore Menace Shoes")

Awards
  • 1960 : BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor – Won

  • 1975 : Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series (for Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light ) – Won

  • 1990 : Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (for Columbo: Agenda for Murder ) – Won

  • Condition: Ungraded
  • Subject Type: TV & Movies
  • Card Size: Standard
  • Autographed: Yes
  • Set: The Prisoner
  • Year Manufactured: 2017
  • Material: Card Stock
  • Item Type: Personally Signed Autograph Card
  • Franchise: The Prisoner
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • TV Show: The Prisoner
  • TV Series Initially Broadcast: September 1967
  • TV Series Created By: Patrick McGoohan
  • Language: English
  • Manufacturer: Unstoppable Cards Ltd
  • Features: Autograph
  • Genre: Spy-Fi, Action, Adventure
  • Featured Person/Artist: Ian Rakoff
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom

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