#the lips!

Maybe the lips are curved, chin up, and his eyelids partially down as he flirts, (Look at the dance scene inpraiseofpmg just posted) fingers barely touching those of his partner’s - is he teasing or is he slightly repulsed? There’s a certain charm to wondering, a sexiness. And then the catlike-look, when his lips seem to get very small and turn down and his cheeks recede slightly. He looks coiled and ready to pounce, just waiting, more than alert.

I love studying his photos to see how he uses his mouth in every instance. The way he chews the heck out of his cigarette as Red, the way he twists it his lips, as if to indicate his slightly off-color thoughts, when he plays Simon Breck, the broad bold smile as Jess, in Gypsy and Gentleman. Of course, as John Drake, he uses that mouth and chin in every sub-role he plays because Drake, himself, is an actor. That’s probably why McGoohan was able to play Drake so well and for so long. Drake got to take on all sorts of identities and when Drake did that, PMG did that. And Drake was everything from drunk to dork. ;-) And in each role, he let his mouth do more than talking.

And the chin… ohhhh, the chin.

Ellie Presner noted that PMG said he grew a beard because he didn’t like the way his chin looked, at least later in life, she said. I thought his chin looked pretty darn good at every age, but his chin was like a piece of art throughout his 20s, 30s, 40s… did I see it in his 50s? Not sure. Maybe it remained remarkable later… but the beard was in the way most of the time.

The chin worked in tandem with the mouth to emphasize the twists and quirks, enticements and put-offs. If I had to choose just one half of his face to look at, top or bottom, I’d be hard pressed to decide. I might actually have to sacrifice those heart-stopping blue eyes and the brow that makes women weak-in-the-knees, because the mouth and chin are so completely unique on this man.