Patrick Magee(1922-1982)
- Actor
Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland, 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 very handy in financing his distinguished
stage work (he was a favorite actor of
Samuel Beckett one of whose greatest
plays, 'Krapp's Last Tape', was written specifically for him). However,
he did do some outstanding work on film, most notably in
Stanley Kubrick's
A Clockwork Orange (1971) as
the crippled writer Mr. Alexander, and in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975),
as the chevalier. He also appeared in
Joseph Losey's
The Servant (1963),
Peter Brook's
Marat/Sade (1967) and
William Friedkin's
The Birthday Party (1968).
He also appeared in films by such cult directors as
Roger Corman,
Lucio Fulci and
Walerian Borowczyk.
