Death of star who will forever be more than Number Six

Patrick McGoohan, the creator and star of the 1960s television series The Prisoner who later railed against consumerism, saying we were all prisoners heading towards an avalanche, has died at the age of 80.

His son-in-law, the producer Cleve Landsberg, said the man who gave the Sixties one of its most popular rallying calls – "I am not a number, I am a free man" – had suffered a short illness and died on Tuesday.

More recently, McGoohan played King Edward in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart, and also won two Emmy awards for his work on the detective drama Columbo. But he is best remembered for The Prisoner, an updated version of which will be shown on ITV this year featuring Sir Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel.

Sharif Ali, his agent, said last night that McGoohan had been "vital" and working up to his death. "He was fine and we hadn't talked about his health. He was excited about the future," he said. "We had an offer for the lead in an independent feature. He was going over the script, and he was offered a supporting part in a larger film."

He said McGoohan was a true "maverick" as evidenced by his decision to turn down the part of James Bond, which went to Sean Connery, to pursue his own projects. And Mr Ali, who represented him for just five months, added: "We are a boutique agency and we're young, but he chose to come here. A lot of the larger actors are with the big agencies, all the same places. It is typical of him that he wasn't. It's just how he lived his life. He didn't take the same path as everybody else took and he was better for it."

In The Prisoner, McGoohan's character is a former secret agent who finds himself held in a mysterious place called "The Village". He is called Number Six, while his nemesis is Number Two. His attempts to escape, find out who is holding him and where he is are continually thwarted.

McGoohan wrote several of the episodes under the name Paddy Fitz and also worked as a director on the show, which reflected the cynicism he felt about consumerism and people's willingness to accept authority. In a 1977 interview, he said: "We're run by the Pentagon. We're run by Madison Avenue. We're run by television. And, as long as we accept those things and don't revolt, we'll have to go along with the stream to the eventual avalanche.

"As long as we go out and buy stuff, we're at their mercy. We're at the mercy of the advertiser. And, of course, there are certain things we need, but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed. We all live in a little village. Your village may be different from other people's villages, but we are all prisoners."

The show, which first appeared in 1967, was dreamt up by McGoohan, who wanted to quit his role playing the spy John Drake in Danger Man. The television chief Lew Grade was reluctant but his doubts proved unfounded and The Prisoner attracted audiences of 11 million during its short run of 17 episodes.

Despite the sinister nature of the fictional location, when it was revealed in the last episode that the programme had been filmed at the resort of Portmeirion in north-west Wales, visitor numbers quickly doubled.

Robin Llewelyn, the grandson of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who built Portmeirion in the 1920s to prove a beautiful place could be developed without being destroyed, said he was "very sad" to hear of McGoohan's death.

McGoohan was born in America but grew up in Ireland and England. He was at first a stage actor in the Old Vic. He married the actress Joan Drummond in 1951 and the eldest of their three daughters, Catherine, is also an actress.

The Prisoner: By numbers

17 episodes broadcast between October 1967 and February 1968.

11 million viewers each week during an era of only two terrestrial channels.

6 the gentleman hero played by McGoohan.

1 the hero's elusive and unidentified captor.

25 annual conventions held in Portmeirion by Six of One, the show's official appreciation society.