Los Angeles  - Patrick McGoohan, the British actor who created and starred in the 1960's cult classic The Prisoner, has died aged 80 at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, his family announced Wednesday.

McGoohan died peacefully on Tuesday after a short illness, his son-in-law Cleve Landsberg said in a statement.

McGoohan was most famous for playing a character known only as Number Six in the cult hit series The Prisoner in which he is abducted and held captive by sinister unknown powers on a strange island village.

He also had several notable film roles including parts in the classic comedy-drama Silver Streak and as the antangonist King Edward I, nicknamed Longshanks, in Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning epic Braveheart. He also won two Emmy Awards for his work on the Peter Falk detective drama Columbo. (dpa)