Dear Patrick
Many Happy Returns from London and everyone at the National Film & Television School.
Thanks for continuing to inspire each new generation of filmmakers.
- Neil Jaworski, Student President, National Film & Television School, Beaconsfield Studios, UK

Sir,

I wish you MANY HAPPY RETURNS.

God has blessed you with abundant talent, wisdom and integrity, the exercise of which on your part has given me great pleasure through the years. ( How many years? I saw you in The Fall of Parnell. )

Not the least pleasure is taken in your happy marriage and family life.

May God bless and keep you and your wife always.

- Wilma Reicher, US

Being of Irish descent myself and having a degree in theater, I have always enjoyed watching Mr McGoohan act. He showed that brilliance early in the film version of Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow and continues to dominate whatever screen he is on to this day.
For me personally though, I think it is the remembered joy of watching both Secret Agent and The Prisoner with my late father. We both loved both series and with my father's passing a couple of years ago these have become a treasured memory.
Happy birthday to one of my favorite actors and I know if he were here my Dad would have the same wishes.
- Michele Wilson, US

Dear Mr McGoohan,

I have been privileged to enjoy many of your performances, from the television version of Brand onwards, and have often been given much food for thought by the drama. I prefer performance-driven drama that is not overwhelmed by "post-production technique". I particularly enjoyed the energy of your Brand, and the portrayal of pity (in its fullest sense of sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or suffering of another) in Three Sovereigns for Sarah, a production which will haunt me for a long time.

I read that you value your privacy highly. Nevertheless, hopefully you know that there is a "silent majority" of drama buffs that have always admired your skill and passion for drama very much, gaining enormous pleasure and interest from the plays and films, even though you haven't heard from us, and we have not previously tried to let you know.

May I wish you a very happy birthday, and thank you for the enjoyment and inspiration you've given me through the media of film, theatre and television. Your best gift of all to your admirers is the demonstration that determination and integrity can survive the rough-and-tumble of creation (either in collaboration, or alone) - to create a performance or production that is surprising, delightful, sobering, or perplexing. Sometimes all of these at once! You've done this in so many varied roles as an actor and also as director, occasionally as a writer. Forgive me for using a superlative, but for many people yours is an astonishing career. It is inspiring, and reassuring, to see that great efforts can be rewarded with great achievements.

Thank you. Many Happy Returns!

- Frank Shailes, UK

I'm very happy that you are organizing this tribute to Mr. McGoohan, and I pray that maybe, just maybe, this time he may make a statement for this landmark birthday.

- Beverly Martin, US

Happy Birthday, Mr. McGoohan,

As a longtime admirer, please allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for:

- being a dashing hero-on-horseback and steadying father figure for a youngster weaned on Disney films,

- providing an alternative to the bigger-is-better 60s-mentality that dealt with the human side of espionage,

- paving the way for The X-Files and countless other TV shows, movies and books by showing how we tend to take for granted the parental altruism of government,

- encouraging us to reassess every pillar of society and to recognize how easily it can be misused and abused,

- daring to create and portray a hero who seems to lose with regularity,

- redefining the concept of character actor with eccentric supporting roles and revolutionizing the approach to playing villains,

- probably setting a record for providing a certain rumpled detective with unique and fascinating adversaries,

- cautioning against "couch potato" passivity by forcing your audiences to think for themselves and not seek out pat answers,

- making ladies swoon and men grow green with envy,

- giving us a rich legacy of entertainment and intellectual stimulation.

Happy birthday from a grateful fan who has been inspired to teach one-year courses based on The Prisoner and learn something new from it every time out!!!

- Ted Quock, Japan

Warmest birthday wishes from the Midwest, Sir!

Both your ideas and acting have been no less than inspirational. I apologize for how corny that last statement sounded, but it's true. You have affected generations across the globe and you knew that too. I think I'll stop writing so clich� and will just say happy birthday and many more. There. It's what I should have done to begin with. Peace be to you.
- Sara Hein, US

Dear Mr. McGoohan,

Is there a better occasion than a very special birthday for thanking you for all you have given us?

The Prisoner is a kind of visual Finnegan's Wake. Like all great works of art it will never be outdated, on the contrary, it is chillingly up-to-date in this era of globalisation, boundless communication and round-the-clock surveillance. It has never left me since I first saw it as a 13-year-old girl in 1971. It touched my heart and helped me to focus my thoughts on topics that interested me - both now and then. Now my 7-year-old daughter is already hooked by The Prisoner. When she first watched scenes of it she asked, very perceptively, "Does he ever get away in the end?"...

Thank you also for all your other performances. The Quare Fellow (which called our attention to that wonderful author and actor, Walter Macken) and The Best Of Friends made me cry, and not only once. Your Edward I is menacing yet showing a malicious sense of humour and Thomasina is one of our daughter's favourite films. Danger Man is certainly a more conventional series than The Prisoner, but your dedication and great acting gave the hero more depth of character and moral stance than is usual in an action series.

And then there is Brand. What power, what passion! It will always haunt me in the same way that The Prisoner has done for all the years since I first saw it.

Finally let me tell you that I have always admired not only your acting, writing and directing, but also the love and care for your wife and family you have expressed many times. It is so touching and so contrary to the "Zeitgeist" of loosening the family ties.

Allow me to change to my native German for a moment: Die Welt w�re arm ohne Ihre Kunst und Ihre integre Pers�nlichkeit. Herzlichen Gl�ckwunsch und noch viele gl�ckliche Jahre -- Many happy returns, many happy years to come and blessings to you and your family.

Sincerely yours,

- Ingrid Augustin, Austria

Happy Birthday to a fellow Piscean, who took the peculiar way in which our sign seems to intensify the natural duality of humankind and turned it on its ear, hereby creating an enduring classic which speaks to the totality of the human condition.
Many Happy Returns, and Thank You!
- Jaime M. de Castellv�, US