Silver-haired, steely-eyed Irish actor Patrick Magee cemented his reputation on several modern, ofttimes experimental stage productions. Among his loftier theatrical efforts were Harold Pinter's {~The Birthday Party}, Peter Weiss' {~Marat/Sade} (in which he played the Marquis de Sade), and Samuel Beckett's {~Krapp's Last Tape}, which was specially written for Magee.
In films from 1960, Magee was often seen in horror efforts and crime melodramas, though he professed to be a gentle soul, as frightened by his films as the movie audience. He was a favorite of director Stanley Kubrick, appearing as the vengeance-driven beating victim of street punk Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange (1970). Patrick Magee's final film appearance was in a documentary celebration of one of his theatrical mentors, Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence (1982). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide. 