Patrick mcgoohan actor biography example

An intense, enigmatic performer, Patrick McGoohan seldom revealed what was going on beneath the surface of the characters he played, his fleeting sideways smile never quite reaching the eyes.

It was a quality that defined his most famous roles, the first as an international agent intent on discovering secrets, the second as a very unwilling captive determined to preserve his own.

Born in New York on 19 March 1928, he was moved just months later to his parents' farm in Ireland, relocating again to Sheffield seven years later.

Evacuated to Loughborough during WWII, he attended Ratcliffe College, where he developed an interest in boxing. He left school at 16 and took a series of jobs, dabbling in amateur dramatics before becoming stage manager at Sheffield Repertory in 1947; his professional acting career began when he stood in for an ailing company member at the eleventh hour.

More stage work followed at the Bristol Old Vic and in the West End, and in 1955 he signed a contract wi