Rest in Peace Patrick McGoohan
Heard on the news he passed away today. He gave us so many memorable characters in movies and TV. Great actor. He will be missed.
"...ever since he became impeccable..."
Phantom Fan
He was brilliant in this movie.
The amazing thing is, he shot this movie in the MIDDLE of producing and starring in his seminal series THE PRISONER. The story is that this is part of the reason why he had somewhat of a nervous breakdown during this time and ended THE PRISONER series so prematurely.
The story is that this is part of the reason why he had somewhat of a nervous breakdown during this time and ended THE PRISONER series so prematurely.Bit of a BS story, as so many of the myths about that show are:
In fact, despite all the fan-club rumour-mongering and their unattributable reports of off-stage whispering, there is clear and irrefutable evidence that the number of episodes had been confirmed at 17 within 1966. In February 1967 an American newspaper article quotes Mike Dann as having purchased at least 17 episodes of the new McGoohan show called The Prisoner. From the tenses implied within the quotes it is evident that Dann had first confirmed the deal before a single episode had been shot.
The decision to make 17 episodes seems to predate MCgoohan ever going to MGM-Hollywood, and was long a working target.
http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/2009/09/mcgoohan-on-my-mind-n umber-of-beast-or.html share
Series always have initial orders for a certain amount of episodes. Unless you think MASH had an initial order for 200 or so episodes. In fact, most episodics in the U.S. have initial orders for 13 episodes, and not until the series is doing well in the ratings does the network or studio give the green light for additional episodes to be shot.
Yes, the initial order for THE PRISONER was 17 episodes. But there was considerable pressure on McGoohan, PARTICULARLY from the U.S. but also from Lew Grade, to continue the series past that point, even if McGoohan himself only wanted to shoot the initial 17 and then end it. And it is an irrefutable fact, including from McGoohan himself, that McGoohan had no idea how to end the series.
But the most salient fact is that McGoohan was starring AND running a series of his own creation, and when he tried to juggle that crushing schedule with shooting a major motion picture, the pressure on McGoohan was incredible. The statement about McGoohan's nervous breakdown came from someone on McGoohan's production staff.
And it is an irrefutable fact, including from McGoohan himself, that McGoohan had no idea how to end the series.I think that's to misinterpret what he said. That Number Six was always going to be Number One is inescapable from the dialogue in the Opening Titles, which was one of the most brilliant pieces of misdirection ever....
Who is Number One?
You are Number Six
backed up by the fact that The Prisoner lived in a house that was Number One, again in the opening titles.
I think it is fair to say McGoohan had never decided fully how to explain this link, indeed in some ways he decided not to - very clearly, but just allow the idea to sink in gradually after the viewer had finished watching Fall-Out.
But the most salient fact is that McGoohan was starring AND running a series of his own creation, and when he tried to juggle that crushing schedule with shooting a major motion picture, the pressure on McGoohan was incredible. The statement about McGoohan's nervous breakdown came from someone on McGoohan's production staff.McGoohan himself said he *worked through four nervous breakdowns* .... ....but he obviously was just using an expression that many hard-working people use, just as it was said LeoMcKern had a heart attack making 'Once Upon A Time' -but he obviousy didn't - he was just worn out from the furious acting passions.
Before McGoohan ever went to Hollywood to make ISZ, the 17 figure was a final one (news items of Feb '67 reported Mike Dann as purchasing at least 17). There may have been pressure I agree, but I think McGoohan had evidently decided he would only the 17 - possibly a sensible decision he made, when balancing up his commitment to ISZ itself.
By the time he left for Hollywoood McGoohan had already got 14 episodes finalised, so he actually only had three new episodes to make. They seem to have been Living in Harmony, Girl who was Death and Fall-Out. the first two may have been stressful from a production point of view, but were simple enough tales and no doubt David Tomblin carried the principal burden of making them. McGoohan really only had to oversee what Tomblin did and save his energy for Fall-Out
http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/ share
At this point I'm beginning to wonder if you equal a nervous breakdown with going insane. When McGoohan says he had a nervous breakdown, he had a nervous breakdown. It just doesn't mean he had to be institutionalized and undergo shock therapy. Most nervous breakdowns take a few days to recover from, not the rest of your life. And yes, Leo McKern really had a heart attack. There are degrees of heart attacks, and minor ones don't incapacitate you for that long. McKern just knew he had to be careful and take care of himself after that point, which he did.
In your own reference you use the quote "AT LEAST (my emphasis) 17" episodes, so I don't understand why you can't grasp that the 17 figure was not considered a final figure by those backing the project. As I've said before, there was a lot of stress put on McGoohan by the networks and Lew Grade to go further with the series than McGoohan himself wanted to go.
That is why it was the last episodes of the series that caused the most stress to McGoohan. He did not know how to end the series, whether he always had Number Six in mind to be Number One or not. And he knew literalizing the "Six is One" theme would get him in big trouble with fans of the series - which it did. I was living in England and saw the final episode the very first time it was aired. McGoohan had to go into hiding afterwards for a reason.
I'm just going to have to go with what McGoohan himself and others actually associated with the production have said, rather than with your personal revisionism of their own words 40+ years after the fact.
Well,I don't mean to be revisionist 40 years on, but please remember that all the comments by crew were made 20 years on, when fans began to interview them for conventions and such.
The original words are easily available via the internet now, in places like these;
http://www.danger-man.co.uk/docs/magazines/tvtimes/Dec1967/pdf.pdf
He sounds like a hard-working man, but the article doesn't imply much more than that, and I suppose my main point is that he seems perfectly in control of his schedules.
I guess his own words should mean the most, rather than mine.
http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/