Actor: Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan created, wrote, directed and starred in The Prisoner, one of the strangest things ever broadcast on British television and still argued over.

He turned down James Bond at least twice on moral grounds regarding the character’s treatment of women, which is a genuinely unusual reason.

Braveheart gave him Edward Longshanks, played with total icy contempt, and Escape from Alcatraz gave him a warden of similar coldness. He won two Emmys for Columbo, where he also directed.