“Who is Number One?” was the flatly intoned question actor Patrick McGoohan posed during the opening credits of the 1960s cult British television series, The Prisoner.
The two-time Emmy Award-winning American-born actor has died at the Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, California.
He died on January 13, following a short illness at the age of 80. McGoohan’s death was made public by his son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg.
Born in New York City, and raised in the UK and Ireland, the actor played in numerous series on both continents. Aside from The Prisoner, his notable roles were in the ITV network series Armchair Theatre and Danger Man. McGoohan was also considered for the role of the iconic spy James Bond.
It is for his role as “Number Six” in the series The Prisoner, filmed in Portmeirion, North Wales, that he will be best remembered. The show’s tagline, “I am not a number, I am a free man!” emphasized the primary focus of the series: McGoohan’s escape from his captor, the mysterious “Number One”.
In a 1970s television interview with British television presenter Mike Smith, Patrick McGoohan responded to a question about the identity of “Number One”. McGoohan said that Number One was meant to be an archetype, not a real person:
“[Number One] was about the most evil human “being”, human “essence”; and that is ourselves, because within each of us, that is the most dangerous thing on Earth, is what is within us. And so therefore that’s what I made No. 1: One’s ‘self’, an image of himself that he was trying to beat.” McGoohan planted clues to this throughout the series, including the Prisoner’s residence in London bearing the numeral “1″ on the door, and that the phrasing of No. 2′s response to the Prisoner’s question, “Who is No. 1?” can be taken either as a non-response – “You are No. 6.” – or as an answer – “You are, No. 6.”
McGoohan leaves behind his wife Joan Drummond McGoohan, three daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
- US actor Patrick McGoohan dead at age 80
- “Prisoner Star McGoohan dies at 80“. BBC News Online, January 14, 2009
- Andrew Dalton, AP “‘Prisoner’ Actor Patrick McGoohan dies in LA“. Google News, January 14, 2009
