The multifaceted actor Patrick McGoohan who spent many years of his childhood in Corawallen, Drumreilly passed away last Tuesday, January 13 at St John's Health Centre in Santa Monica, California, following a brief illness.
The 80 year old had enj
oyed a successful acting career as well as being a noted writer, director and producer. He is best remembered for his roles in the 1960s cult classics ‘The Prisoner’ and ‘Danger Man’ and for his unforgettable role as King Edward Longshanks in the epic movie ‘Braveheart.’
The two time Emmy Award winner was born in Queens, New York on March 19, 1928 to Leitrim parents Thomas McGoohan from Drumreilly and Rose Fitzpatrick from Aughavas.
Shortly after Patrick was born, the family moved back to Mullaghmore, Corawallen, the homeplace of Thomas McGoohan. The family lived and worked on the ancestral farm for eight years before they moved to Sheffield, England. There, Canon John White also from Corawallen helped establish the family in Sheffield and got Patrick’s father a job in the area.
Local, Pat Conefrey from Corawallen explained that Patrick went to school in Dohern NS, two miles from where he lived on his father’s homeplace. “There is not much left of the family home where Patrick was reared only some sheds and the front wall of the house,” he told the Leitrim Observer. Pat also said elderly people in the locality remember Patrick’s mother who was a dressmaker and used to make clothes for children.
McGoohan, who wanted to be a Catholic Priest until he was 15, spoke of his childhood in an interview after his rise to success, he said, “My father did not take to the pace of New York. He farmed in Ireland, in Co Leitrim, the poorest county in Ireland. It’s only export is people. He made the farm go for eight years and then they emigrated again, this time to England.”
The actor later recalled that his mother had promised God before he was born that if her first child was a boy he would become a priest.
He continued his connection with Ireland later in life appearing in a film version of ‘The Quare Fellow.’
McGoohan left school aged sixteen and worked variously as a chicken farmer, a bank clerk, a lorry driver and in a factory before getting a job as a stage manager at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. When one of the actors became ill, Patrick filled in, launching his acting career.
He is lovingly remembered as the hero of 1960s TV series The Prisoner and Danger Man. He appeared in many movies such as Braveheart, Ice Station Zebra, Silver Streak, Shake hands with the Devil, A Time to Kill and The man in the Iron Mask.
He was rumoured to have turned down the role of James Bond for the famous Dr No film.
In 2000, he reprised his role as Number Six (The Prisoner) in an episode of The Simpsons, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes".
