Braveheart actor 'loved returning to Trim"

Patrick McGoohan, the actor who portrayed Longshanks, King Edward I, in the Trim-filmed 'Braveheart" died last Tuesday, aged 80. Previous to his role in 'Braveheart", filmed at Trim Castle, Bective and Dunsany in 1994, he was best known for two of the most memorable British television series of the 1960s, 'Danger Man" and 'The Prisoner". Three years after the filming of Braveheart, he returned to Trim for the filming of a US television mini-series 'The Castle", in which he played Sir James Essex. Others starring in the series at the time included Diana Quick, from the original 'Brideshead Revisited", Jimmy Marsden, later in 'Ally McBeal", Bill Campbell, and Anthony Serbe. Trim native Shane McEnroe was the art director. McGoohan played Essex, while Quick played the role of his wife, Lady Isabel. During filming at Trim Castle, he was very friendly and approachable, and had no problem standing in with extras for photographs. He even took some himself for the local extras, a far cry from the 'Braveheart" security. 'I love coming back to Trim,' he said at the time. 'Diana and I are staying at the Wellington Court, and my wife and I come back to Ireland every year.' McGoohan was born in the Queens District of New York on 19 March 1928, the son of Roman Catholics who three years earlier had emigrated to the United States. The family returned to Ireland when Patrick was an infant, but their attempts to make a living in Leitrim failed, and they moved to Sheffield, where as a young lad, Patrick was taken on by the repertory company at Sheffield"s Playhouse Theatre. He eventually appeared in many West End productions including Orson Welles" production of 'Moby Dick". Welles was to call him the 'one of the big actors of his generation, tremendous, with all the required attributes, looks, intensity, unquestionable acting ability and a twinkle in his eye.' McGoohan was one of few actors who has successfully switched between theatre, TV, and films many times during his career. He was often cast in the role of 'angry young man". In 1959, he was named Best TV Actor of the Year in Britain for his portrayal of a tortured priest in Ibsen"s 'Brand". McGoohan set up his own production company and produced the TV series 'The Prisoner", revolving around the efforts of a secret agent who resigned early in his career to clear his name. His aim was to escape from a fancifully beautiful but psychologically brutal prison for people who knew too much. The series was as popular as it was surreal and allegorical and its mysterious final episode cause such an uproar that McGoohan was to desert England for more than 20 years to seek relative anonymity in LA, where celebrities are 'a dime a dozen." During the 1970s, he appeared in the TV detective series 'Columbo", for which he won an Emmy Award. His film roles lapsed from prominence until his powerful performance as King Longshanks in Mel Gibson"s production of Braveheart. He was married to actress Joan Drummond, and they had three daughters.