Patrick Magee

Born: 31st March 1922
Where: Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died: 14th August 1982

Patrick Magee is a classic example of how certain actors rate the stage far more highly than the screen.

Magee was well aware that the vast majority of the films that he appeared in were dreadful (he mostly played sinister villains in horror films), but the money came in handy in financing his distinguished stage work.

He was a favourite actor of Samuel Beckett - one of whose greatest plays, Krapp's Last Tape, was written specifically for him.

He did produce some good work in films, most notably in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as the crippled writer Mr. Alexander, and also in The Servant, Marat/Sade, The Birthday Party, and Zulu.

He also appeared in films by such cult directors as Roger Corman, Lucio Fulci and Walerian Borowczyk.