Actor Patrick McGoohan (Number 6) Dies in LA

Patrick Joseph McGoohan (March 19, 1928---January 13, 2009) died Tuesday in LA after a short illness at the age of 80. Two-time Emmy winner, stage, television and film actor (Ice Station Zebra, Scanners, Braveheart), McGoohan is best known as the unnamed spy, Number 6, from the cult classic television series, The Prisoner.

Patrick McGoohan, who depicted King Edward "Longshanks" in Mel Gibson's 1995 film Braveheart, is better known for playing the role of two secret agents, John Drake (Danger Man, also known as Secret Agent) and Number Six; he also turned down the roles of James Bond and Simon Templar (The Saint).

McGoohan was the creator of the cult television show, The Prisoner as well as its lead actor. He wrote three of the episodes ("Free for All" [using the penname Paddy Fitz], "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out"), directed these three plus two others under the pseudonym Joseph Serf ("Many Happy Returns" and "A Change of Mind").

The Prisoner follows the adventures of an unnamed secret agent, known only as Number 6 (some fans believe that John Drake and Number 6 are actually the same character) as he struggles against the masters of a mysterious place known only as the Village. Number 6 had resigned his position as a British spy, intending to travel, and wakes up in the Village where over the course of seventeen episodes, he is subjected to questioning about why he resigned by the various controllers of the Village, known as Number 2.

The series, despite being only seventeen episodes, has garnered a loyal fan following, due to the fact that one never learns who Number 6 is, why he resigned, or who is really in charge of the Village. The series has spawned cultural references in comics, television, music, and role playing games. One can read almost any societal issue into the series, much like one can see what one fears the most in a Rorschach ink blot.

Of the seventeen episodes, Patrick McGoohan only considered seven of them official (he also considered them to be in a different order than the sequence in which they were broadcast): "Arrival", "Free for All", "Dance of the Dead", "Checkmate", "The Chimes of Big Ben", "Once Upon a Time", "Fall Out".

"Arrival" starts out with an extended opening sequence (resignation and awakening in the Village) and establishes the fact that the Village is isolated from the rest of the world and is the home for those who have information that the masters of the Village want. It also introduces us to the figurehead of the Village, Number 2. The episode also establishes the fact that escape is impossible and that no one in the Village can be trusted.

"The Chimes of Big Ben", "Once Upon a Time" and its conclusion "Fall Out", all have Leo McKern playing the part of Number 2. When asked what his dream are in "The Chimes of Big Ben", McKern's Number 2 answers that he envisions the own world as the Village. This echoes the opinion of many people that we are all living in prisons without bars.

Exactly how many of the ideas of The Prisoner are rooted in the real world? It is impossible to tell, one of the reasons that fans consider The Prisoner a commentary on modern life and politics. The Village itself is might be based on a real espionage internment camp used by the Inter-Services Research Bureau during World War II.

The final episode of the series, "Fall Out", created more questions than it answered. We come no closer to knowing who is actually running the Village. And while Number 6 seems to be set free, the closing sequence is a repeat of the opening sequence, creating doubt that he and ourselves can ever be free of the Village.

As for Patrick McGoohan, he will always be better known as Number 6; a prison for the man who did not want to be typecast as a secret agent.