ACTOR
Patrick McGoohan
- Known for
- Scanners (1981), The Prisoner (1967), Columbo (1971), Un genio, due compari, un pollo (1975)
53 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Patrick McGoohan is an actor best known for Scanners, The Prisoner and Columbo.
All facts (53)
- #001
Patrick McGoohan was a reclusive celebrity who almost never gave interviews.
- #002
He liked to drink Irish whiskey at the 217 bar in Santa Monica, which was owned by burlesque star Betty Rowland.
- #003
He was reportedly so devoted to his wife that he often refused to kiss other women or perform love scenes in films.
- #004
Two of his most famous characters, Number Six in The Prisoner (1967) and the Warden in Escape from Alcatraz (1979), were never given names.
- #005
In 1977 he was considered to replace Peter Falk as Columbo. However, McGoohan turned the role down because Falk was a close friend and he believed only Falk should play Columbo. He also did not want to star in another series, only to appear as a guest actor.
- #006
The son of an Irish-born farmer, he dropped out of school at 16 to work in a rope factory. He later worked on a chicken farm but had to look for another job because of an allergy to chicken feathers that re-triggered the asthma he had suffered in childhood. He also worked as a bank clerk at the National Provincial Bank and as a truck driver before starting as a stage manager at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre.
- #007
For The Prisoner (1967) he sometimes used "Joseph Serf" to direct the title sequence and "Paddy Fitz" to write it. "Paddy" is a nickname for "Patrick", and "Fitz" is derived from his mother's maiden name, Fitzpatrick.
- #008
He reprised his The Prisoner (1967) character (Number Six) in The Computer Wore Menace Shoes (2000).
- #009
He is the only Columbo (1971) guest star to win two Emmy Awards. In fact, these were the only times he was nominated for an Emmy.
- #010
For the character he played in The Prisoner (1967) ("No. 6"), he used his real birth date and publicity photograph.
- #011
He was considered for the role of James Bond in Dr. No (1962) before his Hell Drivers (1957) co-star Sean Connery was cast. He turned the offer down because of the excessive sexual content.
- #012
He played the same regular character (John Drake) in two different Danger Man series: Danger Man (1960) and Secret Agent (1964). His The Prisoner (1967) character Number Six may also have been intended to be Drake (although McGoohan always denied this, George Markstein, who co-created the series with McGoohan, consistently said it was so).
- #013
He owned the rights to the sound clip that the metal band Iron Maiden wanted to use in their song "The Prisoner" (1982). During a phone call with their managers, he gave them permission to use it.
- #014
Along with William Shatner, Robert Culp, Jack Cassidy and George Hamilton, he is one of five actors who played two or more unrelated killers in episodes of Columbo (1971). In total he played four, more than anyone else - notably Colonel Lyle C. Rumford in By Dawn's Early Light (1974), Nelson Brenner in Identity Crisis (1975), Oscar Finch in Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990) and Eric Prince in Ashes to Ashes (1998). He also directed all of them except the first.
- #015
In a scene in Ice Station Zebra (1968), he had to dive into the flooded torpedo room of a nuclear submarine to rescue a stranded naval officer. As he was a strong swimmer, he insisted on doing the scene himself instead of using a stunt double. A change was made to the script and Olympic swimming champion Murray Rose, who had been cast in another role, was allowed to shoot the scene with him in case anything happened. However, after the scene was completed, Murray revealed that just before the cameras rolled, as he and Pat stood up to their necks in the rising water, Pat whispered to him, "Now I've done it, my foot's stuck." Murray dived down and freed his foot, which was wedged tightly in the torpedo rack.
- #016
In his youth he considered becoming a Catholic priest.
- #017
He was the lead character in all four of the series in which he starred: Danger Man (1960) (John Drake), Secret Agent (1964) (John Drake), The Prisoner (1967) (Number Six) and Rafferty (1977) (Dr. Sid Rafferty).
- #018
He turned down two roles that eventually went to Roger Moore: Simon Templar in The Saint (1962) and James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973).
- #019
He died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a short illness. His remains were cremated at Abbott and Hast Mortuary in Glendale.
- #020
Throughout his childhood, Patrick McGoohan suffered from a number of health problems, largely as a direct result of acute bronchial asthma.
- #021
At 19, his first job in show business was as a stagehand/manager at the Sheffield Repertory Theatre. At 21, he was given his first leading role in one of its productions.
- #022
In his youth, Patrick McGoohan lived in the rural townland of Drumreilly in County Leitrim, Ireland. The house is still there, but it is unoccupied and in a state of disrepair.
- #023
After Ashes to Ashes (1998), Patrick McGoohan retired from acting and returned only to do voice work on Treasure Planet (2002).
- #024
Patrick McGoohan appeared in three different productions with the same name: The Prisoner (1960), The Prisoner (1963) and The Prisoner (1967). Although all three were completely unrelated, the last two had many similarities.
- #025
Patrick McGoohan was honorary president of Six of One, the official appreciation society of The Prisoner (1967), from its founding in 1977 until his death in 2009.
- #026
Patrick McGoohan won the 1965 Great Britain Variety Club ITV Personality Award for Danger Man (1960).
- #027
Patrick McGoohan valued his privacy and rarely gave interviews.
- #028
Patrick McGoohan directed at least one episode of each of the four series in which he starred: Danger Man (1960), Secret Agent (1964), The Prisoner (1967) and Rafferty (1977).
- #029
On The Prisoner (1967), Patrick McGoohan also contributed to the writing and directing of the series.
- #030
Patrick McGoohan had no desire or intention to become a major film star.
- #031
In 1948, Patrick McGoohan worked as a stage manager at Sheffield Repertory.
- #032
Patrick McGoohan was the father of Frances McGoohan, Catherine McGoohan and Anne McGoohan.
- #033
Patrick McGoohan appeared alongside Aubrey Morris in four different productions: The Quare Fellow (1962), Secret Agent (1964) (three episodes), The Prisoner (1967) and Ashes to Ashes (1998).
- #034
Patrick McGoohan was partly raised in and around the English city of Sheffield.
- #035
Patrick McGoohan's parents were named Thomas McGoohan and Rose Fitzpatrick McGoohan.
- #036
Patrick McGoohan made his mark with gritty films such as Hell Drivers (1957), which gave him his bad-boy screen persona.
- #037
Patrick McGoohan had five grandchildren: Sarah, Erin, Simon, Nina and Paddy.
- #038
Patrick McGoohan is best known for his role as Number Six in the surreal science-fiction allegorical series The Prisoner (1967).
- #039
Patrick McGoohan was considered for Hardy Krüger's role in Hatari! (1962).
- #040
Patrick McGoohan left school at 16 and joined Sheffield Rep at 19, then went on to join the Bristol Old Vic.
- #041
Patrick McGoohan was considered for the role of Abraham Whistler in the film Blade (1998).
- #042
On 11 June 2008, Patrick McGoohan became the great-grandfather of Jack Patrick Lockhart.
- #043
Patrick McGoohan's granddaughter Sarah was born in 1976.
- #044
Patrick McGoohan had four younger sisters: Patricia, Kathleen, Marie and Annette.
- #045
Patrick McGoohan worked with two glass-eyed actors: Leo McKern in The Chimes of Big Ben (1967), Once Upon a Time (1968) and Fall Out (1968), and Peter Falk in By Dawn's Early Light (1974), Identity Crisis (1975), Last Salute to the Commodore (1976), Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990), Ashes to Ashes (1998) and Columbo: Murder with Too Many Notes (2001).
- #046
Patrick McGoohan was initially offered the role of Dr. Ira Graves in The Schizoid Man (1989), but he turned it down. The title is a reference to The Schizoid Man (1967).
- #047
Michael Powell tried to cast Patrick McGoohan in the lead role of Sebastian (1968).
- #048
Patrick McGoohan's strongest subject at school was mathematics.
- #049
Patrick McGoohan was eager to join the services in the Second World War, but he was still under age when the war ended.
- #050
Patrick McGoohan was living in Sheffield but was evacuated to Loughborough when the war broke out.
- #051
Six months after Patrick McGoohan was born, the family returned to Ireland.
- #052
His parents, Thomas and Rose Fitzgerald, moved from Ireland to New York, but returned to Ireland six months after he was born.
- #053
Patrick McGoohan was born on Long Island, New York, to Rose and Thomas Fitzgerald, who had moved from Ireland.
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