HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd!!!

Number Six probably would detest birthdays. But I think it is a good opportunity to say thanks from a Dutch fan who was hooked right away by The Prisoner at age 14 in Amsterdam from the first episode broadcast there on 6 January 1968.

Since 1983 I have lived in Ontario, Canada, and saw reruns on PBS and have the Prisoner DVDs. How delightful it is to have memories come back of someone who didn't put up with lies, deceit and manipulation by society and government. So few people have seen it, but somehow my friends have watched the series all independently from each other.

Rover still gives me the shivers, while my son (11) thinks it is "cute" and loves it (a different generation). Thanks, Mr McGoohan, for a lasting impact on a lot of lives, and thanks for appearing in �The Simpsons�!

Ellen Papenburg, Canada

Dear Mr McGoohan
I want to wish you a most memorable and joyful 75th Birthday Celebration!
May your special day be filled with much happiness and time spent with close friends and dear family members.
I am (of course) an ardent fan of your work, both on the screen and the stage, and I would like you to know I have enjoyed countless hours viewing your performances from the �50s through the �90s. I appreciate your artistic integrity and your ability to turn the mundane into something wonderfully thought provoking. It is rare to find an artist (or anyone for that matter) willing to step outside the box, dare to be different, and walk their own path, especially against gale force winds.

I applaud you, sir, for daring to be different and for reminding us the importance of listening to our own hearts and minds.
You are an inspiration.
May you continue to inspire yourself and others and may you view the beauty of the world as through the eyes of a child.

- "pmgfan39" (Wishing you Happy Birthday from the coldest part of Canada!)

Patrick,
Happy 75th Birthday!
If there is one thing that my wife continually says to me, it is, "You aren't Patrick McGoohan, so stop trying to be!"

She isn't beating me down; it's just her way of telling me that my stoicism and intensity are nowhere near what you can convey.
Both of us have been fans for years and are thrilled that more and more of your programs are becoming available.
Thank you for a lifetime of entertainment and inspiration.
Have a great birthday!!
- Kirk Sullivan, US

Best wishes for your 75th birthday Mr. McGoohan! I hope we can expect many, many more.

I first saw The Prisoner when I was 14 and thought it was the best television program I had ever seen. Nothing has ever changed my mind. It definitely is a great literary masterpiece and a great achievement on your part. Absolutely brilliant!!

Thank you very much for a thought-provoking series, The Prisoner, and all the work and effort and thought you put into it - I know you gave up a lot to do it.

Be seeing you ...

- Jeff Trott, US

Dear Sir,

I would like to wish you many happy returns. I remember watching Danger Man with my Father as a small child. The Prisoner was beyond me the first time around but I have since bought the DVD collection and have enjoyed it very much.

All the best,

- Ady Connolly, UK

Dear Mr McGoohan,
I do hope you will forgive this intrusion into your privacy on this landmark date, and the repetition of sentiment that these good wishes will inevitably contain.
I was captivated by The Prisoner when it first burst onto the screens of Scottish Television back in October 1967. I was only ten years of age when I first saw it, all trusting and naive, and the notion that 'our' side might be as bad as the 'other' side was certainly novel to me.
The passage of time and the acquisition of experience have opened my eyes to some of the realities of politics and power, leading me to conclude that, as you suggest, governments worldwide will do whatever they like with individuals in pursuit of their own interests and prejudices.
In that respect alone The Prisoner I feel is as fresh and compelling today as it was when you first unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. Portmeirion, meanwhile, grows more beautiful with each passing year, albeit more expensive and ever more commercial!!
I have often wondered how creative minds might respond if they are remembered for one piece of work above all others: Beethoven for his fifth symphony, Orson Welles for Citizen Kane, The Beatles for Sergeant Pepper's, Patrick McGoohan for The Prisoner. Is there an enduring feeling of pride in the achievement? Or growing irritation at the overshadowing of the rest of one's output?
I respectfully suggest that it should be the former.
With very best wishes for this birthday, and as many more to come as you would wish for yourself.
- Brian Bollen, England

I'd like to say happy 75th birthday (10 days after mine) and thanks very much to you I am getting married this year in September.

And also your programme ideas have given me much food for thought over the years.
- Erica Whittle, England

Dear Mr. McGoohan,

Happy Birthday!

Thank you for being so much fun to watch on the big and little screens and on the Broadway stage. Your work has kept many people happy, and even inspired - as you likely know - in their personal quests for being true to themselves. Thank you, also, for the things that came as an indirect result of your work; particularly your work The Prisoner.

The first time I ever saw a cloud with a silver lining was while on the grounds of the resort Portmeirion. Until then I thought the image was something Buddy De Sylva invented, because he thought it would make a neat song lyric. Seeing the glorious vision in the sky, I called to my beloved and said to him, as I did on occasions before, "This is something else I'd like to thank Patrick McGoohan for". (Unless I said, "This is something for which I'd like to thank Patrick McGoohan". The sentiment remains the same.) Because of a chapter in your career, Mr. McGoohan, my husband and I went to Portmeirion and fell in love with North Wales: its cold glas lakes, its mountains that float above the clouds, its trove of castles and its people, some of whom have become our friends. Every time we return, which is often, I repeat my wish to my husband to thank you for introducing us to this bit of heaven.

Now for your 75th birthday celebration I get my chance to send you my appreciation for entertaining us, teaching us and literally taking us some place we likely would not have gone if not for you.

I hope this moment finds you in good health with much love and luck still in store for you. And, truly, I wish you many happy returns!

Sincerely,

- Cathy Nemeth Frumerman, US