Farewell to Patrick McGoohan, aka 'The Prisoner'

AFP - Emmy-winning actor Patrick McGoohan, famed for his role in the cult 1960s television series "The Prisoner," has died in Los Angeles, his agent said Wednesday. He was 80.

McGoohan, who played the un-named Number Six in the surrealistic series about a secret agent trapped in a giant prison disguised as a seaside resort, passed away following a short undisclosed illness, agent Sharif Ali said.

"He was writing up until the end, there was a lot going on. As an agent, he was the kind of actor you wanted to work with," Ali told AFP.

Born in New York but raised in Ireland and England, McGoohan won two Emmy Awards for his work alongside Peter Falk in two "Columbo" television movies.

Other notable roles included the part of King Longshanks in Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning 1995 epic "Braveheart."

"Mel (Gibson) will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a Number," McGoohan was once quoted as saying, in reference to his iconic role in "The Prisoner."

McGoohan also had parts in the 1996 screen adaptation of John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" and in Don Siegel's 1979 Clint Eastwood thriller "Escape From Alcatraz," where he played a fearsome prison warden.

McGoohan is survived by his wife of 57 years and three daughters.