Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan. Tall, dark, handsome and suave. And British, wherever he was born and whoever his parents were. Therefore, born to be a villain.

That's how I knew him. I never saw The Prisoner or Danger Man, but I noticed he turned up on Columbo pretty often, superior and arrogant as four different murderers.

I read that he turned down the role of James Bond when Connery relinquished it. I wonder why. He would have appeared slightly better-bred than Connery, but that dark side of his would have suited the role perfectly.

I'm sure he enjoyed his career, but he could have done so much more after the cult success of The Prisoner, not coasted along as guest villains on TV and in films like Escape From Alcatraz and Braveheart.

I relish him most for his 'Red' in Hell Drivers.

Hell Drivers is one of those small films, British but with the pace and tautness of an American B-movie, though even grittier, that you come upon by chance on a wet Wednesday afternoon and never forget.

It features an array of well-known actors at the start of their career, Gordon Jackson, Alfie Bass, Herbert Lom, Sid James, David McCallum, Jill Ireland and Sean Connery (straining a little, I thought, to gain attention).

Peggy Summers too, perhaps better known as the Bonny Parker-type character in Gun Crazy.

Stanley Baker stars, and Patrick McGoohan is the villain, sporting a threatening Irish accent, a boxer's ape-like stance, and a roll-up which stays glued to his lip, even during a punch-up.

He is gloriously over the top, as all good melodrama villains should be.

Farewell, Mr McGoohan. You were great.