Patrick Magee
Magee inDementia 13 (1963)
Born	Patrick George McGee (1922-03-31)31 March 1922[1] Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died	14 August 1982(1982-08-14) (aged 60) London, England
Education	St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh
Occupations	Actor stage director
Years active	1959–1982
Spouse	Belle Sherry ​ (m. 1958)​
Children	2
Awards	Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play 1966Marat/Sade

Patrick George Magee (néMcGee, 31 March 1922 – 14 August 1982) was anIrish actor.^[2] He was noted for his collaborations with playwrightsSamuel Beckett andHarold Pinter, sometimes called "Beckett's favourite actor,"^[3] as well as creating the role of theMarquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions ofMarat/Sade.

Known for his distinctive voice, he also appeared in numerous horror films and in twoStanley Kubrick films^[4] –A Clockwork Orange (1971) andBarry Lyndon (1975) – and threeJoseph Losey films –The Criminal (1960),The Servant (1963) andGalileo (1975). He was a member of theRoyal Shakespeare Company from 1964 to 1970.

CriticAntonia Quirke posthumously described him as "a presence so full of strangeness and charisma and difference and power,"^[5] while scholar Conor Carville wrote that Magee was an "avant-garde bad-boy" and "very important and unjustly forgotten figure who represents an important aspect of the cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s in Britain."^[6]

McGee (he changed the spelling of his surname to Magee when he began performing, most likely to avoid confusion with another actor) was born into a middle-classCatholic family at 2 Edward Street,Armagh,County Armagh.^[7] The eldest of five children, he was educated atSt. Patrick's Grammar School.

His first stage experience inIreland was withAnew McMaster's touring company, performing the works ofShakespeare. It was here that he first worked with Pinter. He was then brought to London byTyrone Guthrie for a series of Irish plays. He met Beckett in 1957 and soon recorded passages from the novel,Molloy, and the short story,From an Abandoned Work, forBBC radio. Impressed by "the cracked quality of Magee's distinctly Irish voice," Beckett requested copies of the tapes and wroteKrapp's Last Tape especially for the actor.^[8] First produced at theRoyal Court Theatre in London on 28 October 1958, the play starred Magee directed byDonald McWhinnie. A televised version with Magee directed by McWhinnie was later broadcast byBBC2 on 29 November 1972.^[9] Beckett's biographerAnthony Cronin wrote that "there was a sense in which, as an actor, he had been waiting for Beckett as Beckett had been waiting for him."^[10]

In 1964, he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company, after Pinter, directing his own playThe Birthday Party, specifically requested him for the role of McCann, and stated he was the strongest in the cast. In 1965 he portrayed theMarquis de Sade inPeter Brook's production ofPeter Weiss'Marat/Sade, and when the play transferred toBroadway he won aTony Award forBest Featured Actor in a Play.^[4] He also appeared in the 1966 RSC production ofStaircase oppositePaul Scofield. In 1969, he played Inspector Hawkins in the RSC's original production ofDutch Uncle. His last play with the company wasBattle of Shrivings in 1970, at theLyric Theatre, under the direction ofPeter Hall.

In 1970, he played Daniel Webster inScratch, a Broadway adaptation ofThe Devil and Daniel Webster byArchibald MacLean.

Early film roles includedJoseph Losey'sThe Criminal (1960)Dementia 13 (1963) andThe Servant (1963), the latter an adaptation scripted by Pinter. He also appeared asSurgeon-Major Reynolds inZulu (1964),Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964),Anzio (1968), and in the film versions ofMarat/Sade (1967; asde Sade) andThe Birthday Party (1968). He is perhaps best known for his role as the victimised writer Frank Alexander, who torturesAlex DeLarge withBeethoven's music, inStanley Kubrick's filmA Clockwork Orange (1971). His other role for Kubrick was as Redmond Barry's mentor, the Chevalier de Balibari, inBarry Lyndon (1975). He reprised his role as theMarquis de Sade in the1966 film adaptation ofMarat/Sade, also directed by Peter Brook.

Magee also appeared inKing Lear (1971),Young Winston (1972),The Final Programme (1973),Galileo (1975),Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980) andChariots of Fire (1981), but was most often seen in horror films. These included the earlyFrancis Ford Coppola outingDementia 13 (1963),Roger Corman'sThe Masque of Red Death (1964), and theBoris Karloff vehicleDie, Monster, Die! (1965) forAIP;The Skull (1965),Tales from the Crypt (1972),Asylum (1972), andAnd Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) forAmicus Productions;Demons of the Mind (1972) forHammer Film Productions;Lucio Fulci'sThe Black Cat (1981), andWalerian Borowczyk'sDocteur Jekyll et les femmes (1981), which proved his final film role.

Magee married Belle Sherry, also a native ofCounty Armagh, in 1958. The couple had two children, twins Mark and Caroline (b. February 1961), and remained together until Magee's death.

He was known as something of a "hellraiser." He often struggled with bouts of alcoholism and gambling that adversely affected his finances, and his professional relationships.^[6]

He was a staunchIrish republican, and an active campaigner forleft-wing social and political causes. In 1976, he played an instrumental role in persuading his trade unionEquity to boycott South Africa over the country'sapartheid laws.^[11]

A heavy drinker, Magee died from aheart attack at his flat inFulham, southwest London, on 14 August 1982, at the age of 60, according to obituaries inThe Glasgow Herald andThe New York Times.^[12] His final role was in an episode ofPlay for Today which aired on 14 December 1982, three months after his death.

Conor Carville, of theUniversity of Reading, wrote of Magee:^[3]

"[Magee] is a very important and unjustly forgotten figure who represents an important aspect of the cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s in Britain. The persona he had off-stage was that of a hell raiser, and this blended into the roles he was cast in. He was at the forefront of theatrical and cinematic experiment of the time, and yet, as a BBC stalwart on both radio and TV and a West End actor, he was also ensconced in the mainstream. As well as this, his immersion in the new British horror genre meant he moved in underground circles. My research has revealed an undercurrent of desperation in his career, as he took on such roles for the income they provided. It is this multifaced character that makes Magee a lightning rod for the tensions and contradictions of his era."

On 29 July 2017, actorStephen Rea, who appeared alongside Patrick Magee in a production of Samuel Beckett's playEndgame, unveiled ablue plaque commemorating Magee's birthplace at 2 Edward Street, Armagh.^[13][11]

In a retrospective written on the actor's 100th birthday in 2022 onSenses of Cinema, Mark Lager particularly praised Patrick Magee as the character Krapp inSamuel Beckett'sKrapp's Last Tape and as the character McCann inHarold Pinter'sThe Birthday Party as the best performances of his career, while also considering his character of the blind patient George Carter inFreddie Francis'sTales from the Crypt as his most memorable of many performances in horror films.^[14]

• From an Abandoned Work (radio play bySamuel Beckett) Monologue first broadcast in 1957 by the BBC.
• Hordes of the Things (radio series) 1980 as The Narrator.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPatrick Magee (actor).

• Patrick Magee at theInternet Broadway Database
• Patrick Magee atIMDb
• Patrick Magee at theBFI'sScreenonline
• Patrick MageeBFI

• 1922 births
• 1982 deaths
• Male film actors from Northern Ireland
• Male stage actors from Northern Ireland
• Male television actors from Northern Ireland
• Male Shakespearean actors from Northern Ireland
• People from Armagh (city)
• 20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland
• Tony Award winners
• Royal Shakespeare Company members
• Actors from County Armagh

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