Patrick McGoohan, the creator and star of the landmark TV series Secret Agent and The Prisoner, has passed away at age of 80.

The British actor died Tuesday after a short illness, in St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, his son-in-law film producer Cleve Landsberg said but did not provide further details.

McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in Secret Agent, a British-produced series in which he played John Drake as the TV spy.

He also won two Emmy Awards for his work on the Peter Falk detective drama for Columbo in 1975 and 1990.

In more recent years he appeared on screen as England' sadistic King Edward in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart.