Emmy-winning actor Patrick McGoohan, best known for starring in cult
1960s TV show The Prisoner, has died at the age of 80.

He died in Los Angeles after a short illness, his film producer son-
in-law Cleve Landsberg told Associated Press.

McGoohan played the character Six in the surreal 1960s show, filmed
in the north Wales village of Portmeirion.

He won two Emmy awards for his work on TV detective series Columbo,
playing different characters.

The first came for an episode of the series in 1974, with another 16
years later.

The screen star also won a Bafta award for best television actor in
1959 for his role in The Greatest Man In The World, a one-off drama
in ITV's Armchair Theatre series.

In more recent years, McGoohan played King Edward Longshanks in the
1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart.

The actor, who was born in New York and raised in England and
Ireland, came to screen prominence in TV series Danger Man, in which
he played a secret service agent. The programme later aired as Secret
Agent in the US.

He was later considered for the role of James Bond for the movie Dr
No.

But McGoohan was chiefly associated with cult ITV drama The Prisoner,
writing some of the episodes himself under a different name.

His character spent the entire time attempting to escape from The
Village and finding out the identity of his captor, the elusive
Number One.

He repeatedly declared: "I am not a number - I am a free man!"

In 2000, McGoohan reprised his most famous role in an episode of The
Simpsons.

McGoohan's last role came in 2002, as a voice artist in animated
picture Treasure Planet.

Last year, ITV confirmed that Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel
would take the role of Number Six in a remake of The Prisoner, which
will also star Sir Ian McKellen.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/7829267.stm

Published: 2009/01/14 19:11:24 GMT