Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Joseph McGoohan (Template:IPAc-en; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor, director and screenwriter of film, television, and theatre. He is best known for his roles in The Prisoner (1967–1968) and Danger Man (1960–1968).

Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during the 1950s and became well known for the titular role of secret agent John Drake in the ITC espionage programme Danger Man (1960–1968). He then created and produced the surrealistic ITV series The Prisoner (1967–1968), in which he starred as former British intelligence agent Number Six, becoming well known for this role.

Beginning in the 1970s, McGoohan maintained a long-running association with the television series Columbo, writing, directing, producing and appearing in several episodes. His notable film roles included David Jones in Ice Station Zebra (1968); James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971); the Warden in Escape from Alcatraz (1979); Dr. Paul Ruth in Scanners (1981); Edward I of England in Braveheart (1995); Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill (1996); and the voice of Billy Bones in Treasure Planet (2002).

During the height of Danger ManTemplate:'s fame in the 1960s, McGoohan was the highest-paid actor on British television.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> McGoohan won the 1960 BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for his work on Danger Man, and twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, including its inaugural 1975 entry, for roles on Columbo, while his series The Prisoner ultimately developed a cult following.<ref name="Rogers4">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="bbc.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was born in Astoria, Queens, New York City on March 19, 1928, to Irish Catholic immigrant parents Thomas McGoohan and Rose McGoohan (née Fitzpatrick).<ref name=TDT>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Soon after he was born, the family returned to Ireland, settling in the Mullaghmore area of Drumreilly, County Leitrim.<ref>Langley, R: Patrick McGoohan. Tomahawk Press, 2007.</ref><ref>"BFI retrospective" Template:Webarchive, The Irish Post; retrieved July 9, 2016.</ref>

Seven years later, they relocated to England, settling in Sheffield, Yorkshire. McGoohan attended St Marie's School, then St Vincent's School,<ref>Langley, Roger Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man or Prisoner?, pp. 12–13. Tomahawk Press, 2007. Second revised updated edition, Escape Books, 2017.</ref> and De La Salle College, all in Sheffield.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During World War II, he was evacuated to Loughborough, where he attended Ratcliffe College at the same time as future actor Ian Bannen. McGoohan excelled in mathematics and boxing, and left school at the age of 16 to return to Sheffield, where he worked as a chicken farmer, bank clerk, and lorry driver before getting a job as a stage manager for Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When one of the actors became ill, McGoohan substituted for him, which began his acting career.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Early career

In 1955, McGoohan featured in a West End stage production of Serious Charge, as a Church of England vicar accused of being homosexual.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

"Intimidated" by McGoohan's stage presence, Orson Welles cast him as Starbuck in his York theatre production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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,"<ref>Jonathan Rosenbaum (ed.), Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, This is Orson Welles (Da Capo Press, New York, 1992 [rev. 1998 ed.]) p. 4</ref> reflecting that he had "all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye".<ref name=TDT/>

McGoohan's first television appearance was as Charles Stewart Parnell in "The Fall of Parnell" for the series You Are There (1954).<ref>Cassin, B. I Never Had a Proper Job. Liberties Press, 2012.</ref><ref>Langley, R. Patrick McGoohan, pp. 41–42. Tomahawk Press, 2007.</ref> He had an uncredited role in the movie The Dam Busters (1955), standing guard outside a 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.Template:Citation needed

He also had small roles in Passage Home (1955), The Dark Avenger (1955) and I Am A Camera (1955). He could also be seen in Zarak (1956) for Warwick Films. For television he was in "Margin for Error" in Terminus (1955), guest featured on The Adventures of Sir Lancelot and Assignment Foreign Legion, and The Adventures of Aggie. He played the lead in "The Makepeace Story" for BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1955). He also appeared in Welles' movie version of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.

He did Ring for Catty on stage in 1956.<ref>(Lyric, Hammersmith.) Ring for Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale. (Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue) Hartley, Anthony. The Spectator; London 196.6661 (February 24, 1956): p. 248.</ref>

Rank Organisation

While working as a stand-in during screen tests, McGoohan was signed to a contract with The Rank Organisation. They gave him mostly villainous parts in films, including High Tide at Noon (1957), directed by Philip Leacock; Hell Drivers (1957), directed by Cy Endfield; and The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958), directed by Joseph Losey.<ref>Patrick McGoohan Picture Show; London 70.1823 (March 8, 1958): 8.</ref>

He had frequent roles in television anthology series such as Television Playwright, Folio, Armchair Theatre, ITV Play of the Week and ITV Television Playhouse. He was given a leading role in Nor the Moon by Night (1958), filmed in South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After some disputes with Rank management, the contract was dissolved. He then did some TV work, winning a BAFTA in 1960.<ref>"BAFTA award in 1960", BAFTA, Retrieved February 1, 2015</ref>Template:Clarification needed

His favourite part for stage acting was the lead in Henrik Ibsen's Brand, for which he received an award Template:Clarification needed. Michael Meyer, the play's translator, wrote of the last act "McGoohan suddenly unleashed all his terrifying power, and from then until the final moments... the audience was gripped as seldom happens in a theatre."<ref name="ReferenceA">Michael Meyer, Not Prince Hamlet</ref> He also played the role in a BBC television production in August 1959.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Michael Meyer, who translated the stage version, thought McGoohan's performance was the best and most powerful he had ever seen.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It was McGoohan's last stage appearance for 28 years.Template:Citation needed

Danger Man

Template:Main Production executive Lew Grade soon approached McGoohan about a television series where he would play a spy named John Drake. Having learned from his experience at Rank, McGoohan insisted on several conditions: all the fistfights should be different; the character would always use his brain before using a gun; and—much to the executives' horror—no kissing. The show debuted in 1960 as Danger Man,<ref name="CBS_News">Template:Cite news</ref> a half-hour programme intended for American audiences. It did fairly well, but not as well as hoped.<ref>Vincent Cosgrove, 2007. "Odds Are He Will Live on Disc Tomorrow," The New York Times, April 15. Retrieved 4–7–10.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Production lasted a year and 39 episodes. After the first series was over, an interviewer asked McGoohan if he would have liked it to continue. 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."<ref>"Why Danger Man scared me", Photoplay, April 1961, p. 14.</ref>

Post-Danger Man

McGoohan appeared in the movie Two Living, One Dead (1961), filmed in Sweden. He featured in two movies directed by Basil Dearden: All Night Long, an updating of Othello, and Life for Ruth (both 1962). He also featured in an adaptation of The Quare Fellow (1962) by Brendan Behan.

McGoohan was one of several actors considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No. While McGoohan, a Catholic, refused the role on moral grounds,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 refused again.)<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>

McGoohan spent some time working for The Walt Disney Company on The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963) and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1963). A staid English vicar, Dr. Christopher Syn (a reformed pirate captain - played by McGoohan) disguised as a scarecrow and mounted on a magnificent black stallion thwarts King George III's Revenue officers in daring night-time smuggling adventures on the remote Kent coast.

Return of Danger Man

After he had also refused the role of Simon Templar in The Saint,<ref name="auto"/> Lew Grade asked McGoohan if he wanted to give John Drake another try. This time, McGoohan had even more say about the series. Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US) was resurrected in 1964 as a one-hour programme. The scripts now allowed McGoohan more range in his acting. Because of the popularity of the series, he became the highest-paid actor in the UK,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the show lasted almost three more years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After shooting the only two colour episodes of Danger Man, McGoohan told Grade that he would quit the role.<ref>Martin Jackson "Danger Man To Quit", Daily Express, April 16, 1966, p. 12. Jackson states: "Now McGoohan has put up a new TV idea to ATV's managing director Lew Grade." He said: "It is another adventure series but a very different sort of character. It promises to be very exciting. Mr. Grade said: Mr. McGoohan is coming to see me tomorrow to discuss the details. We hope to start work on the new series in October."</ref>

The Prisoner

Template:Main Knowing McGoohan's intention to quit Danger Man, Grade asked if he would at least work on "something" for him. McGoohan pitched a miniseries about a secret agent who angrily quits and is abducted to a surreal, cheerful holiday resort village. 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.<ref name="CBS_News" /> In addition to being the series' protagonist, McGoohan was its executive producer, forming Everyman Films with producer David Tomblin, and also wrote and directed several episodes, in some cases using pseudonyms.<ref name="YouTube interview">Template:Cite webTemplate:CbignoreTemplate:Dead YouTube link</ref><ref>McGoohan wrote "Free for All" as Paddy Fitz, and directed "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.</ref> The originally commissioned seven episodes became seventeen.

The title character, the otherwise-unnamed "Number Six", spends the entire series trying to escape from a mysterious prison community called "The Village", and to learn the identity of its ruler. The Village's administrators try just as much to force or trick him into revealing why he resigned as a spy, which he refuses to divulge. The series' main exterior filming location was the Italianate resort village of Portmeirion, Gwynedd, Wales, which had been featured in some episodes of Danger Man. Although the show was sold as a thriller in the mould of Danger Man, its surreal and Kafkaesque setting and reflection of concerns of the 1960s counterculture have had a far-reaching influence on popular culture and the series ultimately developed a cult following.<ref name="Rogers4"/><ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

The Prisoner was created while McGoohan and George Markstein were working on Danger Man, an espionage show produced by Incorporated Television Company.<ref name="Davy">Template:Cite book</ref> The exact details of who created which aspects of the show are disputed, as there is no "created by" credit. Majority opinion credits McGoohan as the sole creator of the series, but a disputed co-creator status was later ascribed to Markstein after a series of fan interviews were published in the 1980s.<ref name="Davy" />

Some sources indicate that McGoohan was the sole or primary creator of the show.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Subscription required</ref> McGoohan stated in a 1977 interview that, during the filming of the third series of Danger Man, he told ITC Entertainment managing director Lew Grade that he wanted to quit working on Danger Man after the filming of the proposed fourth series.<ref name="Troyer">Template:Cite episode</ref> Grade was unhappy with the decision, but when McGoohan insisted upon quitting, Grade asked if McGoohan had any other possible projects, and McGoohan later pitched The Prisoner. In a 1988 article in British telefantasy magazine Time Screen, though, McGoohan indicated that he had planned to pitch The Prisoner before speaking with Grade.<ref name="Pixley">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="Pixley" /> In the 1977 account, McGoohan said that Grade approved of the show despite not understanding it, whereas, in the 1988 account, Grade expressed clear support for the concept.<ref name="Troyer" />

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.<ref name="Davy" /> 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, although Rogers himself doubted that McGoohan would have wanted or needed to do that.<ref name="Rogers4"/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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 series of Danger Man.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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 in Scotland called Inverlair Lodge, near Inverness.<ref name="Fairclough">Template:Cite book</ref> Markstein suggested that Danger ManTemplate:'s main character John Drake (played by McGoohan) could suddenly resign and be kidnapped and sent to such a location.<ref name="Fairclough" /> 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, wherein "people" with "valuable knowledge of one sort or another" were held prisoners on extended "holidays" in a "luxury prison camp".<ref name="Hora">Template:Cite book</ref> The PrisonerTemplate:'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 colourful clothing."<ref name="Hora" />

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 in a BBC television play, The Prisoner by Bridget Boland.<ref name="Fairclough" /> 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."<ref name="Troyer" /> 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".<ref name="Pixley" />

In a 1966 interview for the Los Angeles Times by reporter Robert Musel, McGoohan stated, "John Drake of Secret Agentis 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="Pixley" /> Author, Dave Rogers claims that Markstein had wanted the character to be a continuation of Drake, but by doing so would have meant paying royalties to Ralph Smart, the creator of Danger Man.<ref name="Rogers4"/> The second officially licensed novel based on The Prisoner, published in 1969, refers to Number Six as "Drake" from its first sentence: "Drake woke."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The issue has been extensively debated by fans and television critics.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

McGoohan had originally wanted to produce only seven episodes of The Prisoner, but Grade argued that more shows were necessary in order for him to successfully sell the series to CBS.<ref name="Troyer" /> The exact number that was agreed to and how the series was to end are disputed by different sources. The finale of The Prisoner left numerous open-ended questions, generating controversy and letters of outrage.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> Following the final episode, McGoohan "claimed he had to go into hiding for a while".<ref name=":0" />

MGM

During production of The Prisoner, MGM cast McGoohan in an action movie, Ice Station Zebra (1968), for which his performance as a British spy drew critical praise.

After the end of The Prisoner, he presented a TV show, Journey into Darkness (1968–69). He was meant to follow it with the lead role of Dirk Struan in an expensive adaptation of the James Clavell best-seller Tai-Pan but the project was cancelled before filming.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Instead he made the movie The Moonshine War (1970) for MGM.

1970s

McGoohan played James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). He directed Richie Havens in a rock opera version of Othello, entitled Catch My Soul (1974), but disliked the experience.<ref name = Premiere>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

McGoohan received two Emmy Awards for his work for the television series Columbo, with his long-time friend Peter Falk. McGoohan said that his first appearance on Columbo (in the 1974 episode "By Dawn's Early Light") 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; his daughter Catherine McGoohan appeared with him in the episode "Ashes to Ashes" (1998). The other two Columbo episodes in which he appeared are "Identity Crisis" (1975) and "Agenda for Murder" (1990).

As he had done early in his career with the Rank Organisation, McGoohan began to specialise in villains, appearing in A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975), Silver Streak (1976) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1977).

In 1977, he had the main role of the television series Rafferty as a retired army doctor who moves into private practice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He had the lead in a Canadian movie, Kings and Desperate Men;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> then had supporting parts in Brass Target (1978) and the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz (1979), portraying the prison's warden.

1980s

In 1980 he appeared in the UK television movie The Hard Way.

In 1981 he appeared in the science fiction/horror movie Scanners, and in Jamaica Inn (1983) and Trespasses (1984). When McGoohan saw Jamaica Inn he decided he could no longer act and rejected invitations by Michael Elliott to play Captain Ahab and Hotspur.<ref>Michael Meyer, 'Not Prince Hamlet'</ref>

In 1985 he appeared in his only Broadway production, featuring opposite Rosemary Harris in Hugh Whitemore's Pack of Lies, in which he played another British spy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Best Actor for his performance.

He could also be seen in the movies Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) and Of Pure Blood (1986) as well as an episode of Murder, She Wrote.

1990s

McGoohan featured in The Best of Friends (1991), and featured as Edward I of England in Braveheart (1995) which revitalised his career; he was seen the following year as Judge Omar Noose in A Time to Kill and in The Phantom, a cinema adaptation of the comic strip.<ref name="auto" />

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 movie role was the voice of Billy Bones in the Disney animated film Treasure Planet (2002). That same year, he received a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for The Prisoner.

Personal life

McGoohan married actress Joan Drummond on May 19, 1951. They had three children including Catherine McGoohan.<ref name="HisObit">Template:Cite news</ref> McGoohan "would not act any part in which he had to kiss any actress who was not his wife (and she, looking after him and their small sons, had little time for acting)",<ref name="ReferenceA"/> which somewhat restricted his choices.

For most of the 1960s they lived in a secluded detached house on the Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London. They settled in the Pacific Palisades district of Los Angeles during the mid-1970s.<ref name="Pack_of_Lies">Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

McGoohan died following a "short illness" at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on January 13, 2009, at the age of 80.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

The surreal and Kafkaesque setting of The Prisoner and its reflection of concerns of the 1960s counterculture have had a far-reaching influence on popular culture and the series ultimately developed a cult following.<ref name="Rogers4"/><ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> Since its debut, the series' enduring popularity has led to its influencing and being referenced in a range of other media.

McGoohan's name was associated with several aborted attempts at producing a new movie version of The Prisoner. In 2002, Simon West was signed to direct a version of the story. McGoohan was listed as executive producer for the movie, which never came to fruition. Later, Christopher Nolan was proposed as director for a movie version. However, the source material remained difficult and elusive to adapt into a feature movie. McGoohan was not involved with the project that was ultimately completed. A miniseries was filmed for the AMC network in late 2008, with its broadcast occurring during November 2009.

A biography of McGoohan was published in 2007 by Tomahawk Press,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and another followed in 2011 by Supernova Books.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Clear

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Passage Home	McIsaacs
	The Dark Avenger a.k.a. The Warriors	English soldier	Uncredited
	The Dam Busters	RAF guard
	I Am a Camera	Swedish water therapist
1956	Zarak	Moor Larkin
1957	High Tide at Noon	Simon Breck
	Hell Drivers	G. 'Red' Redman
1958	The Gypsy and the Gentleman	Jess
	Nor the Moon by Night a.k.a. Elephant Gun	Andrew Miller
1961	Two Living, One Dead	Erik Berger
1962	All Night Long	Johnny Cousin
	Life for Ruth a.k.a. Walk in the Shadow	Doctor James 'Jim' Brown
	The Quare Fellow	Thomas Crimmin
1963	The Three Lives of Thomasina	Andrew McDhui
	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	Template: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	The Warden
1981	Scanners	Doctor Paul Ruth
	Kings and Desperate Men	John Kingsley	Filmed in 1977
1984	Trespasses	Fred Wells
1985	Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend	Doctor Eric Kiviat
1995	Braveheart	King Edward Longshanks
1996	The Phantom	Phantom's Dad
	A Time to Kill	Judge Omar Noose
1997	Hysteria	Dr. Harvey Langston
2002	Treasure Planet	Billy Bones	Voice (final film role)

Television roles

Template:Nbsp Year Template:Nbsp	Title	Role	Notes
1954	You Are There		2 episodes: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "The Fall of Parnell"
1955	The Vise	Tony Mason	1 episode ("Gift from Heaven")
	Terminus	James Hartley	1 episode ("Margin for Error")
	BBC Sunday Night Theatre Presents: The Makepeace Story	Seth Makepeace	1 episode ("The Ruthless Destiny")
1956	The Adventures of Sir Lancelot	Sir Glavin	1 episode ("The Outcast", S1, E4)
1957	Assignment Foreign Legion	Captain Valadon	1 episode ("The Coward", S1, E23)
1956–57	The Adventures of Aggie	Migual	1 episode ("Spanish Sauce", S1, E3)
1958	The Vise	Vance	1 episode ("Blood in the Sky")
	Armchair Theatre	Jack 'Pal' Smurch	1 episode ("The Greatest Man in the World")
	Television Playwright Presents	James Coogan	1 episode ("This Day in Fear")
	ITV Television Playhouse	Mat Galvin	1 episode ("Rest in Violence")
1959	Brand	Brand	Henrik Ibsen play
1961	Armchair Theatre	Nicholai Soloviov	1 episode ("The Man Out There")
1960–62 1964–68	Danger Man	John Drake	86 episodes. Also directed 3 episodes.
1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Doctor Christopher Syn/ Scarecrow of Romney Marsh	3 episodes
1963	Sunday Night Play	The Interrogator	1 episode ("The Prisoner")
1967–68	The Prisoner	Number Six	17 episodes. Also directed 5 episodes.
1969	Journey into Darkness	Host	TV film
1974	Columbo	Colonel Lyle C. Rumford	1 episode ("By Dawn's Early Light")
1975		Nelson Brenner	1 episode ("Identity Crisis"). Also directed.
1976		Template:N/A	1 episode ("Last Salute to the Commodore") – director
1977	Rafferty	Doctor Sid Rafferty	13 episodes. Also directed 1 episode.
1980	The Hard Way	John Connor	TV film
1983	Jamaica Inn	Joss Merlyn
1985	American Playhouse	Chief magistrate	3 episodes ("Three Sovereigns for Sarah" parts I, II & III)
1986	Of Pure Blood	Dr. Felix Neumann
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Oliver Quayle	1 episode ("Witness for the Defense")
1990	Columbo	Oscar Finch	1 episode ("Agenda for Murder"). Also directed.
1998		Eric Prince	"Ashes to Ashes". Also directed.
2000		Template:N/A	1 episode ("Murder with Too Many Notes") – director
	The Simpsons	Number Six	Episode: "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"

Theatre roles

This is an incomplete list. Sources include<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1945	Pride and Prejudice	Mr D'Arcy	Vincent's Youth Club, Sheffield (amateur production)
1950–51	The Rivals		Theatre Royal, Bath
1951	The Little Foxes	Oscar Hubbard	Sheffield Playhouse
	Man and Superman	John Tanner
1951–52	Hobson's Choice	Albert Prosser	Grand Theatre, Blackpool, then The Arts Theatre Club, London
1952–53	Henry V		Bristol Old Vic and The Old Vic, London
1952	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio	Sheffield Playhouse
	Cupid and Psyche		Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
1953	Spring Model	Roy Mawson	Theatre Royal, Windsor
	The Castiglioni Brothers	Camillo Castiglioni	Bristol Old Vic
	The Cherry Orchard	Peter Trofimov
	Antony and Cleopatra	Pompey / a schoolmaster
	Old Bailey	Robert Bailey II
	The River Line	Philip Sturgess	Theatre Royal, Windsor
	Time on Their Hands	Leonard White	Q Theatre, London
1954	Burning Bright
	Spring Model
	Grace and Favour		Producer and director
1955	Serious Charge	Howard Phillips	Garrick Theatre, London and Winter Gardens, Morecambe
	Moby Dick – Rehearsed	A Serious Actor / Starbuck	Duke of York's Theatre, London
	Ring For Catty	Leonard White	Coliseum Theatre, Harrow, Lyric Theatre, London
	Brand	Brand	Lyric Theatre, London
1959	Danton's Death	St. Just
1985	Pack of Lies	Stewart	Royale Theater, New York

Awards

• 1960: BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor — Won
• 1975: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a 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

External links

• Template:TCMDb name
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