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. "Intimidated" by McGoohan's stage presence,
Orson Welles 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," reflecting that he had "all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye". 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. 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.
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. 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. After some disputes with Rank management, the contract was dissolved. He then did some TV work, winning a BAFTA in 1960. His favourite part for stage acting was the lead in
Henrik Ibsen's
Brand, for which he received an award .
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." He also played the role in a BBC television production in August 1959.
Michael Meyer, who translated the stage version, thought McGoohan's performance was the best and most powerful he had ever seen. It was McGoohan's last stage appearance for 28 years.
Danger Man 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, a half-hour programme intended for American audiences. It did fairly well, but not as well as hoped. 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."
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, 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.) 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, and the show lasted almost three more years. After shooting the only two colour episodes of
Danger Man, McGoohan told Grade that he would quit the role.
The Prisoner 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. He had the lead in a Canadian movie,
Kings and Desperate Men; 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. ==Personal life==