Patrick Joseph McGoohan (March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an American-born Irish actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England, began his career in England during the 1950s and became well known for the titular role, secret agent John Drake in the ITC espionage programme
Danger Man (1960–1968). He then produced and created
The Prisoner (1967–1968), a surrealistic television series in which he featured as Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village. Beginning in the 1970s, McGoohan maintained a long-running association with the television series
Columbo, writing, directing, producing and appearing in several episodes. His notable film roles included David Jones in
Ice Station Zebra (1968), James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray in
()