RIP: Khan & No. 6

Bad day, with a couple of fine actors leaving us.

Actor Ricardo Montalban passed away at age 88. Perhaps best known to genre fans as the menacing Khan Noonian Singh from STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (and it’s precursor TREK episode “Space Seed”), Montalban’s lengthy career also featured memorable performances in a pair of PLANET OF THE APES (ESCAPE FROM and CONQUEST OF), an ironic turn in THE NAKED GUN, and perhaps most famously as the benevolent host Mr. Roarke on TV’s “FANTASY ISLAND.”

Also exiting the world today at age 80 is Patrick McGoohan, a wonderfully brusque actor who rose to fame in the 60s with the popular British spy show “DANGER MAN.” Shortly thereafter, he made his permanent mark with the ingenious and influential show “THE PRISONER”, playing a secret agent whose resignation leads to his unwilling relocation to a strange isolated township where he’s assigned just a number: Six.

McGoohan also made a number of noteworthy screen appearances in films such as SILVER STREAK, ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ and David Cronenberg’s SCANNERS, and more recently as Judge Omar Noose in A TIME TO KILL. But aside from his iconic abducted numerical spy, his most infamous role is perhaps the cruel king on the hunt for William Wallace in BRAVEHEART.

Goodbye, gentlemen. You’ll be missed.