Patrick McGoohan, the creator and star of 1960s television series The Prisoner, has died aged 80.

He died yesterday in Santa Monica, California, after a brief illness, his son-in-law, the film producer Cleve Landsberg said.

The American-born McGoohan was best known for his role as Number Six in the cult show, filmed in Portmeirion, Wales.

As well as playing the title role, McGoohan also served as executive producer on the show and scripted and directed several episodes.

He won two Emmy Awards for his work on the detective drama Colombo with his long-term friend Peter Falk, and appeared in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart as King Edward Longshanks.

Charlie Jane Anders, of IO9 science-fiction, magazine paid tribute to McGoohan as “a rebel who refused to stick to tried-and-true formulas. His show The Prisoner gave rise to dramas like Lost and BSG.”

She said: “McGoohan famously turned down the roles of James Bond and Simon Templar. Instead of being content to embody the ‘secret agent’ archetype, he chose to reinvent it. We’re all a lot richer as a result.”

Robin Llywelyn, the managing director of the Portmeirion village resort in North Wales where the series was shot, was a child when it was being filmed, and is the grandson of its architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, who assisted McGoohan with the filming.

Mr Llywelyn said: “It is a very sad day for Portmeirion as we had a high regard for Patrick McGoohan and there was a lot of affection for him in the area. He employed a lot of local people as extras in the series and was a very courteous and highly respected man."

Fans paid their tributes on Facebook, the social networking website.

One fan, Ty Davies said: “He had a good innings at 80, but the world feels a little less likely to rebel without him. He was never stamped, indexed, debriefed or numbered. His life was his own and there will never be his like again.”

Another, Timothy Broughton, simply said: “His number is, sadly, up.”

After starring in the spy series Danger Man and being touted as a potential James Bond, McGoohan — writing under the name Paddy Fitz — created The Prisoner, the story of a man who awakes in a mysterious place called The Village, with no recollection of how he came to be there. The inhabitants of the village are known by numbers, not by name, and McGoohan’s character frantically explores the environment, which is controlled by the macabre Number Two.

Last year, ITV confirmed that the network would be remaking the series, with Jim Caviezel cast in the role of McGoohan’s Number Six.

Sir Ian McKellen will play the role of Number Two in the series, due to be screened this year in conjunction with the American cable channel AMC.

McGoohan’s only reprisal of his role as Number Six came in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons, in which his character helps Homer Simpson to escape the ominous village.

His last role was in 2002 when he voiced a character in the animated Treasure Planet.

He leaves behind his wife of 57 years, Joan Drummond McGoohan, three daughters, Catherine, Anne and Frances, five grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010