Added by Nonfictionguy on 19 Jan 2009 03:27

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Come in No.6, your time is up!

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Decade: Rating: List Type:

214

7.9

8.4

The Prisoner (1967)

McGoohan not only produced 'The Prisoner', he also wrote, directed and starred in that show. He used two pseudonyms, writing "Free for All" as Paddy Fitz and directing "Many Happy Returns" and "A Change of Mind" as Joseph Serf. He also wrote "Once Upon A Time" and "Fall Out" using his own name. The seven episodes were increased to seventeen.

The main character, No.6, spends the entire series trying to escape from The Village and to learn the identity of his nemesis, Number One. He does escape if you didn't watch the show! The Prisoner was a completely new, cerebral kind of series, stretching the limits of the established television formulas. Its influence has been echoed in Lost, Babylon 5, Nowhere Man, I-man, The Truman Show, The Simpsons, ReBoot, even American Idol teaser ads.

The unnamed Number Six, became McGoohan's most recognisable character.

Nonfictionguy's rating:

8.8

Danger Man

McGoohan insisted on several conditions in his contract before agreeing to do the show Danger Man: 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. Thankfully they still hired him.

The first series, half-hour shows geared toward an American audience, did fairly well, but not as well as hoped in the U.S. It lasted only one year, but was rerun in several countries and gained cult status worldwide. After the series was over, one interviewer asked McGoohan if he would have liked the series to continue, to which he replied, "I would rather do twenty TV series than go through what I went through under that Rank contract I signed a few years ago for which I blame no one but myself."

Nonfictionguy's rating:

9.6

8.2

Danger Man (1964)

See above (same show different name)

Nonfictionguy's rating:

6.5

8.1

The Best of Friends

Patrick McGoohan starred in Masterpiece Theatre's production of The Best of Friends for PBS, 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.

Nonfictionguy's rating:

8.8

8.4

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color

429

6.5

6.9

Murder, She Wrote (1984)

In 1987, Patrick played Attorney Oliver Quayle in one episode of Murder She Wrote.

Nonfictionguy's rating:

5966

7.8

8.6

The Simpsons (1989)

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 befriends Number Six and escapes with his boat.

Nonfictionguy's rating:

7.5

Rafferty's Rules

6.6

The Man in the Iron Mask

Nonfictionguy's rating:

7.6

Columbo: Murder with Too Many Notes

Nonfictionguy's rating:

7.9

7.5

Columbo: Agenda for Murder

Nonfictionguy's rating:

7.6

Columbo: Ashes to Ashes

Nonfictionguy's rating:

7.9

Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light

Sadly Patrick McGoohan has passed away, I'd love to do a list of all the movies he turned down, or has appeared in. But as he will always be Prisoner number 6 to me, I thought a list of his TV works more fitting!

Patrick won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in 1960. In 1990 he won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. This was for his role as Oscar Finch in Columbo: Agenda for Murder. Previously he had won an Emmy for outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series again for: Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light (1974)

What isn't widely know is that 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) but turned them down. He also turned down the role of James Bond in Live and Let Die.

He appeared as 4 different murderers on 4 different episodes of Columbo. Of those 4 episodes he directed 3 and was considered at one point as a replacement for Peter Falk when he wanted to leave the show.

For the 1967 TV show 'The Prisoner', he sometimes used the name Joseph Serf for directing credits and Paddy Fitz for writing credits. Paddy is a nickname for Patrick while Fitz was derived from his mother's maiden name, Fitzpatrick.

He reprised his The Prisoner character, Number Six in a Simpsons episode The Computer Wore Menace Shoes.