“Decisive action of women for the salvation of Israel….delineating with ever greater precision the characteristics of Mary's mission in the work of saving all humanity”
McGoohan, Patrick McGoohan
Photo by Ganapathy Kumar on Unsplash
"Swingin' on the Riviera One Day"
Few know that a native New Yorker was offered the role of Jame Bond before Sean Connery, the definitive British super spy!
Few know that the famed Secret Agent song was the theme for the native New Yorker's TV show, not for that Bond guy!
"Shaken, Not Stirred"
Patrick McGoohan was a suave "British" actor, born in Queens, NY and raised in Ireland. He "was the first actor offered the part of Bond, but he turned it down [He was more serious about his "roles" as a Catholic and as a husband.] He felt that Bond’s womanizing and killing were immoral" (Collin Cleary, 2002).
Upon his death in California, he must have been an oddity in Hollywood, leaving behind his beloved wife of 57 years! (cf, Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register, 1/12/16).
"Be Seeing You"
McGoohan may be best known for his portrayal of "# 6" on British television's The Prisoner, which was broadcast on American TV as a 1968 summer replacement. I recall watching that strange series as a very confused nine year old with my Irish born dad.
"Here is the premise: A secret agent—whose name is never revealed in the entire series—angrily resigns his job and prepares to leave the U.K. on holiday. Unbeknownst to him, however, he is followed home by a man in a hearse, who knocks him unconscious using some kind of gas. When the secret agent awakens, he is in his own bedroom, but when he looks out the window, he finds that he is in a strange, cosmopolitan little town. He discovers that he is being held prisoner in this place, which is known only as 'the Village.' No one is referred to by name, only by number. The inhabitants wear colorful costumes, and spend a good deal of time parading and having fun, yet they are all curiously soulless. Underneath the Village is a complex of underground control rooms, from which a vast bureaucracy watches the Villagers’ every move using sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment" (Collin Cleary, 2002)
Though "The Prisoner," has a cult following to this day, I am more intrigued by the actor than by his character.
"I am Not a Number; I am a Free Man."
When "The Prisoner" was re-made in 2009, it is extremely interesting to note that it once again starred a devout Catholic. I suspect that tells us more about these actors than the part they played.
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About the Author
Joe Tevington is a proudly orthodox Catholic, a husband since 1986, a dad to two married adult children, a grandpa to two, and a civil service retiree. He is a sign language fluent certified rehabilitation counselor with graduate degrees in deafness rehabilitation, religious studies/moral theology, & Christian counseling psychology, as well as a catechetical diploma and certificates in benefits planning and Catholic social ministry. He deeply appreciates Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life, as well as how they are to inform us in our apostolates and ministries.
On much lighter notes, he fancies himself to be the foremost authority on his native Brooklyn, when it comes to architecture, geography, history, Italian food, Saturday Night Fever, stick ball, stoop ball, or wiffle ball.
