Patrick Magee was a Northern Irish actor best known for his collaborations with
Samuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
and
Harold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, as well as his appearances in horror films and in
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's films
A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
and
Barry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
.
Early life
He was born
Patrick McGee in
ArmaghArmagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
,
County Armagh-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. He was educated at the Roman Catholic St. Patrick's College in Armagh.
Stage career
McGee changed his name to
Magee for the stage. His first stage experience in Ireland was with Anew McMaster's touring company, performing the works of Shakespeare. It was here that he first worked with Pinter.
He was then brought to London by
Tyrone GuthrieSir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
for a series of Irish plays. In 1957 he met Beckett and recorded some of his prose for
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio. Beckett was so excited with his voice that he wrote
Krapp's Last TapeKrapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. Consisting of a cast of one man, it was originally written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue"...
especially for him (it was recorded by the BBC in 1972). Beckett's biographer
Anthony CroninAnthony Cronin is an Irish poet. He received the Marten Toonder Award for his contribution to Irish literature....
wrote that "there was a sense in which, as an actor, he had been waiting for Beckett as Beckett had been waiting for him."
In 1964, he joined the
Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, after Pinter, directing his own play
The Birthday PartyThe Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays...
, specifically requested him for the role of McCann, and stated he was the strongest in the cast. In 1965 he appeared in
Marat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
, and when the play transferred to
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
it won him a Tony Award. He also appeared in the 1966 RSC production of
Staircase opposite
Paul ScofieldDavid Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
.
Film career
Early film roles for the 5`8" 175-pound Magee included
Joseph LoseyJoseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
's
The CriminalThe Criminal is a 1960 British drama film produced by Nat Cohen and directed by Joseph Losey, starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker and Jill Bennett. Baker plays an ex-con who takes part in the robbery of a racetrack and is caught and sent back to prison...
(1960) and
The Servant (1963), the latter an adaptation scripted by Pinter. He also appeared as
Surgeon-Major ReynoldsLieutenant-Colonel James Henry Reynolds VC , born Kingstown , County Dublin, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth...
in
ZuluZulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....
(1964),
Séance on a Wet AfternoonSéance on a Wet Afternoon is a 1964 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the novel by Mark McShane in which an unstable medium convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and collect the ransom...
(1964),
AnzioAnzio, also known as Lo Sbarco di Anzio or The Battle for Anzio, is a 1968 war film about Operation Shingle, the 1944 Allied seaborne assault on the Italian port of Anzio in World War II...
(1968), and the film versions of
Marat/Sade (1967) and
The Birthday PartyThe Birthday Party is a 1968 British drama film directed by William Friedkin, based on an unpublished screenplay by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, which he adapted from his own play The Birthday Party, considered an example of Pinter's "comedy of menace".-Plot:The protagonist is a lodger in his...
(1968). But he is perhaps best known for his role as the victimised writer Frank Alexander, who tortures
Alex DeLargeAlex is a fictional character in Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange and the film adaptation, in which he is played by Malcolm McDowell. In this film adaption, Alex's surname is DeLarge, in relation to Alex's reference to himself as "Alexander the Large" in the novel. This, in itself, is an...
with
BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's music, in
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's film
A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
(1971).
He went on to appear in Kubrick's
Barry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975),
Young WinstonYoung Winston is a 1972 British film based on the early years of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.The film was based on the book My Early Life: A Roving Commission by Winston Churchill. The first part of the film covers Churchill's unhappy schooldays, up to the death of his father...
(1972),
The Final Programme (1973),
Sir Henry at Rawlinson EndSir Henry at Rawlinson End is a 1980 British film based on the eponymous character created by Vivian Stanshall. It starred Trevor Howard as Sir Henry and Stanshall himself as Henry's brother Hubert. Unusually, the film was released in sepia-toned monochrome. After a long wait, while the film...
(1980) and
Chariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
(1981), but was most often seen in horror films. These included
Roger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's
The Masque of Red DeathThe Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 British horror film starring Vincent Price in a tale about a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers. The film was directed by Roger Corman; the screenplay by Charles Beaumont and R...
(1964), and the
Boris KarloffWilliam Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
vehicle
Die, Monster, Die!Die, Monster, Die! is a 1965 horror film directed by Daniel Haller. The film is a loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space. The story is about an American scientist who pays a visit to the estate of his fiancée's family...
(1965) for
AIPAmerican International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
;
The SkullThe Skull is a 1965 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus Productions. It starred the frequently paired horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, alongside Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee and Peter Woodthorpe.It was one of a number of British...
(1965),
Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt is a British horror movie, made in 1972 by Amicus Productions. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt...
(1972),
AsylumAsylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
(1972), and
And Now the Screaming Starts!And Now the Screaming Starts! is a 1973 British gothic horror film. It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, a company best-known for anthology or "portmanteau" films....
(1973) for
Amicus ProductionsAmicus Productions is a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England. It was founded by American producer and screenwriter Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.-Horror:...
; and
Demons of the MindDemons of the Mind is a British period horror film, produced by the Hammer studio. It was directed by Peter Sykes and its cinematographer was Arthur Grant. The cast includes Gillian Hills , Robert Hardy, Patrick Magee, Michael Hordern, and Shane Briant...
for
Hammer Film ProductionsHammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
.
Private life
He married Belle Sherry, also a native of
County Armagh-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
; they had two children, twins Mark and Caroline (born February 1961, London).
Filmography
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse:
|- bgcolor="#B0C4DE" align="center"
! Year !! Filmography
|-
| 1960
|
The CriminalThe Criminal is a 1960 British drama film produced by Nat Cohen and directed by Joseph Losey, starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker and Jill Bennett. Baker plays an ex-con who takes part in the robbery of a racetrack and is caught and sent back to prison...
|-
| 1961
|
Rag DollRag Doll is a 1961 British B-movie crime film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring actor and singer Jess Conrad. The film gained a new audience in the 2000s in response to Conrad's elevation to cult status as a purveyor of late-1950s and early-1960s pre-Beatles British kitsch, and received a...
|-
| rowspan=2|1962
|
The BoysThe Boys is a 1962 British courtroom drama film, directed by Sidney J. Furie and with a screenplay by Stuart Douglass.-Plot:A night watchman at a garage is found murdered, and four teddy boys are put on trial for the crime...
|-
|
A Prize of ArmsA Prize of Arms is a 1962 British crime film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Stanley Baker, Helmut Schmid, Patrick Magee and Tom Bell with early appearances by several actors including Fulton Mackay, Tom Adams and Rodney Bewes...
|-
| rowspan=4|1963
|
The Young Racers
|-
|
The Very EdgeThe Very Edge is a 1962 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Anne Heywood, Richard Todd, Jack Hedley, Jeremy Brett and Maurice Denham...
|-
|
Dementia 13Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman...
|-
|
The Servant
|-
| rowspan=3|1964
|
ZuluZulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....
|-
|
Séance on a Wet AfternoonSéance on a Wet Afternoon is a 1964 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the novel by Mark McShane in which an unstable medium convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and collect the ransom...
|-
|
The Masque of the Red DeathThe Masque of the Red Death is a 1964 British horror film starring Vincent Price in a tale about a prince who terrorizes a plague-ridden peasantry while merrymaking in a lonely castle with his jaded courtiers. The film was directed by Roger Corman; the screenplay by Charles Beaumont and R...
|-
| rowspan=2|1965
|
The SkullThe Skull is a 1965 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus Productions. It starred the frequently paired horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, alongside Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee and Peter Woodthorpe.It was one of a number of British...
|-
|
Die, Monster, Die!Die, Monster, Die! is a 1965 horror film directed by Daniel Haller. The film is a loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space. The story is about an American scientist who pays a visit to the estate of his fiancée's family...
|-
| 1967
|
Marat/SadeMarat/Sade is a 1967 adaptation of the Peter Weiss play, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade...
|-
| rowspan=2|1968
|
AnzioAnzio, also known as Lo Sbarco di Anzio or The Battle for Anzio, is a 1968 war film about Operation Shingle, the 1944 Allied seaborne assault on the Italian port of Anzio in World War II...
|-
|
The Birthday PartyThe Birthday Party is a 1968 British drama film directed by William Friedkin, based on an unpublished screenplay by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, which he adapted from his own play The Birthday Party, considered an example of Pinter's "comedy of menace".-Plot:The protagonist is a lodger in his...
|-
| 1969
|
Hard ContractHard Contract is a 1969 film written and directed by S. Lee Pogostin and starring James Coburn and Lee Remick. It premiered on April 30, 1969.-Cast:*James Coburn as John Cunningham*Lee Remick as Sheila Metcalfe*Lilli Palmer as Adrianne...
|-
| rowspan=2|1970
|
CromwellCromwell is a 1970 film, based on the life of Oliver Cromwell who led the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War and, as Lord Protector, ruled Great Britain and Ireland in the 1650s. It features an all-star cast led by Richard Harris as Cromwell and Alec Guinness as King Charles I...
|-
|
You Can't Win 'Em AllYou Can't Win 'Em All is a 1970 war film, written by Leo Gordon and directed by Peter Collinson, starring Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson as two American soldiers in 1922 Turkey who protect the three daughters of a Turkish governor while thwarting an Turkish army colonel's attempt to take gold on...
|-
| rowspan=4|1971
|
King LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
|-
|
The Trojan WomenThe Trojan Women is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced during the Peloponnesian War, it is often considered a commentary on the capture of the Aegean island of Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier in 415 BC , the same year...
|-
|
A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
|-
|
The FiendThe Fiend is a 1972 British serial killer horror film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Ann Todd, Tony Beckley and Patrick Magee...
aka
Beware My Brethren
|-
| rowspan=5|1972
|
Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt is a British horror movie, made in 1972 by Amicus Productions. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the stories, however, are actually from EC's Tales from the Crypt...
|-
|
Young WinstonYoung Winston is a 1972 British film based on the early years of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.The film was based on the book My Early Life: A Roving Commission by Winston Churchill. The first part of the film covers Churchill's unhappy schooldays, up to the death of his father...
|-
|
AsylumAsylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
|-
|
Pope JoanPope Joan is a 1972 British drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.. It was directed by Michael Anderson and has a cast which includes Liv Ullmann , Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximillian Schell....
|-
|
Demons of the MindDemons of the Mind is a British period horror film, produced by the Hammer studio. It was directed by Peter Sykes and its cinematographer was Arthur Grant. The cast includes Gillian Hills , Robert Hardy, Patrick Magee, Michael Hordern, and Shane Briant...
|-
| rowspan=2|1973
|
And Now the Screaming Starts!And Now the Screaming Starts! is a 1973 British gothic horror film. It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, a company best-known for anthology or "portmanteau" films....
|-
|
Lady IceLady Ice is a 1973 crime film about an insurance investigator who becomes involved with a wealthy young woman he suspects of fencing stolen jewelry. The film was directed by Tom Gries, and stars Donald Sutherland, Jennifer O'Neill, and Robert Duvall....
|-
| rowspan=2|1975
|
The Final Programme
|-
|
Barry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
|-
| 1977
|
Telefon
|-
| 1979
|
The Bronte SistersThe Bronte Sisters is a 1979 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier and Isabelle Huppert. The film tells the story of the famous Brontë sisters: Charlotte, Emily and Anne and their brother Branwell...
|-
| rowspan=5|1980
|
The Monster ClubThe Monster Club is a 1980 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Vincent Price and John Carradine. An anthology film, it is based on the works of the British horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes...
|-
|
Hawk the SlayerHawk the Slayer is a sword and sorcery movie directed by Terry Marcel and starring John Terry and Jack Palance. The protagonist is Hawk, a hero in the Dark Age, where the Evil ruled the world.-Plot summary :...
|-
|
Rough Cut
|-
|
Sir Henry at Rawlinson EndSir Henry at Rawlinson End is a 1980 British film based on the eponymous character created by Vivian Stanshall. It starred Trevor Howard as Sir Henry and Stanshall himself as Henry's brother Hubert. Unusually, the film was released in sepia-toned monochrome. After a long wait, while the film...
|-
|
The Flipside of Dominick HideThe Flipside of Dominick Hide is a British television play first transmitted by the BBC on 9 December 1980 as part of the Play for Today series....
|-
| rowspan=3|1981
|
Chariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
|-
|
Dr. Jekyll and His Women
|-
|
The Sleep of DeathThe Sleep of Death is a 1981 Swedish-Irish historical horror film directed by Calvin Floyd and starring Per Oscarsson, Patrick Magee and Marilù Tolo. It is based on the novel The Room at the Flying Dragon by Sheridan Le Fanu. In 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a young Englishman travels to...
|-
| rowspan=2|1982
|-
|
Another Flip for Dominick
|-
|}
External links