Alas, actor Patrick McGoohan has died. Both charismatic and enigmatic, he was offered the roles of both James Bond and Simon Templar, and turned them down. He'll be remembered for a long, long time.
Patrick McGoohan, who died on January 13 aged 80, starred in two of the most memorable British television series of the 1960s, Danger Man and The Prisoner.If Danger Man was somewhat typical of 1960s espionage drama and derring-do, The Prisoner was a more cerebral affair in which McGoohan played a character known only as Number Six. [...]
He won two Emmys for his guest appearances in Columbo, the detective series starring Peter Falk, who described McGoohan as “the most underrated, under-appreciated talent on the face of the globe. I have never played a scene with another actor who commanded my attention the way Pat did.”
Despite such plaudits, some in showbusiness continued to find him difficult. Not only was he fiercely protective of his private life, but his religious beliefs, rejection of the material world and condemnation of sexual liberalism sometimes chimed with the stern-minded roles in which he was cast.