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25 Jun 15
19:34
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The elder of two sons, Macnee was born in London in 1922 to Daniel and Dorothea Mary (née Hastings) Macnee. His father trained race horses in Lambourn.
Interesting article.
Patrick Macnee is the dashing albeit now wrinkled English actor who played Mr. Steed in the 1960s adventure series The Avengers and the 1970s follow-up The New Avengers. His father was a horse trainer and a very heavy drinker; while his mother was, Macnee says, a direct descendant of the real Robin Hood. She divorced Macnee's father for another woman, so Macnee was raised by his mother and her lesbian lover, whom he referred to as "Uncle Evelyn."
Macnee was expelled from high school for making pornography. He served with distinction in the Royal Navy, then studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his film debut with a non-speaking bit part in Michael Powell's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. In the 1951 A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim, Macnee played the young Jacob Marley.
Unable to find enough work in England, he came to Canada and eventually Hollywood, where he became a familiar face in late-50s films, usually playing sinister British types. He became an American citizen in 1959, two years before returning to England to make The Avengers.
The series began in 1961 with utterly serious black-and-white episodes featuring Macnee as sidekick spy to Ian Hendry, who departed after the first season. With Macnee promoted to the program's male lead, The Avengers eventually developed a droll sense of humor as it became the quintessential "spy fi" show of its era. Macnee's Steed was a perfect gentleman, a top-notch spy in a bowler hat, but with a mischievous and irreverent wit, as plots wandered from standard cops-and-robbers fare to battles against super-villains and supernatural quests.
There were other recurring characters on The Avengers, especially in the early episodes, but the best-remembered episodes feature Macnee's Mr Steed alongside a sexy, female counterpart, with whom there might be witty repartee, but never a romantic entanglement. Steed's succession of partners included Ingrid Hafner as Carol Wilson in the first season and Julie Stevens as Venus Smith in the second season, before the show hit its stride with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, then Diana Rigg as the inimitable Emma Peel, and for its final season, Linda Thorson as Tara King.
Tapes of the first season were re-used and thus unavailable today, and the program was in color for only its fifth and sixth seasons, so only those late-60s episodes are generally aired in present-day reruns. A pity, as the series was excellent from the second season on, and it was the first prominent action-adventure to envision a woman and man as equal partners, instead of routinely putting the woman in peril, waiting for the man to rescue her.
In the 1970s revival The New Avengers, Macnee's Steed was older, pudgier, and generally supervised younger spies instead of performing his own espionage. Since The New Avengers, Macnee has kept busy with supporting roles, including an amusing turn as an ally of superspy James Bond in A View to a Kill, and a meatier part in the werewolf classic The Howling with Dee Wallace-Stone. He played Sir Denis Eton-Hogg in This Is Spinal Tap. For the most part, he has been wasted in such fluff as Lobster Man from Mars and Thunder in Paradise. In the abysmal 1998 movie of The Avengers with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman, Macnee provided an invisible voice. He has also played Dr. Watson in several Sherlock Holmes TV movies, with Roger Moore and later Christopher Lee as Holmes. Macnee was promoted to Holmes for 1993's The Hound of London.
In the late 1960s, just as jets were beginning to be hijacked, Macnee filmed a public service ad where he spoke the now rather unbelievable line, "It's all right to bring your guns into the airport, but please don't take them onto the plane with you." For this he was later given an award for "preventing terrorism."
Patrick Macnee is the dashing albeit now wrinkled English actor who played Mr. Steed in the 1960s adventure series The Avengers and the 1970s follow-up The New Avengers. His father was a horse trainer and a very heavy drinker; while his mother was, Macnee says, a direct descendant of the real Robin Hood. She divorced Macnee's father for another woman, so Macnee was raised by his mother and her lesbian lover, whom he referred to as "Uncle Evelyn."
Macnee was expelled from high school for making pornography. He served with distinction in the Royal Navy, then studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his film debut with a non-speaking bit part in Michael Powell's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. In the 1951 A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim, Macnee played the young Jacob Marley.
Unable to find enough work in England, he came to Canada and eventually Hollywood, where he became a familiar face in late-50s films, usually playing sinister British types. He became an American citizen in 1959, two years before returning to England to make The Avengers.
The series began in 1961 with utterly serious black-and-white episodes featuring Macnee as sidekick spy to Ian Hendry, who departed after the first season. With Macnee promoted to the program's male lead, The Avengers eventually developed a droll sense of humor as it became the quintessential "spy fi" show of its era. Macnee's Steed was a perfect gentleman, a top-notch spy in a bowler hat, but with a mischievous and irreverent wit, as plots wandered from standard cops-and-robbers fare to battles against super-villains and supernatural quests.
There were other recurring characters on The Avengers, especially in the early episodes, but the best-remembered episodes feature Macnee's Mr Steed alongside a sexy, female counterpart, with whom there might be witty repartee, but never a romantic entanglement. Steed's succession of partners included Ingrid Hafner as Carol Wilson in the first season and Julie Stevens as Venus Smith in the second season, before the show hit its stride with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, then Diana Rigg as the inimitable Emma Peel, and for its final season, Linda Thorson as Tara King.
Tapes of the first season were re-used and thus unavailable today, and the program was in color for only its fifth and sixth seasons, so only those late-60s episodes are generally aired in present-day reruns. A pity, as the series was excellent from the second season on, and it was the first prominent action-adventure to envision a woman and man as equal partners, instead of routinely putting the woman in peril, waiting for the man to rescue her.
In the 1970s revival The New Avengers, Macnee's Steed was older, pudgier, and generally supervised younger spies instead of performing his own espionage. Since The New Avengers, Macnee has kept busy with supporting roles, including an amusing turn as an ally of superspy James Bond in A View to a Kill, and a meatier part in the werewolf classic The Howling with Dee Wallace-Stone. He played Sir Denis Eton-Hogg in This Is Spinal Tap. For the most part, he has been wasted in such fluff as Lobster Man from Mars and Thunder in Paradise. In the abysmal 1998 movie of The Avengers with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman, Macnee provided an invisible voice. He has also played Dr. Watson in several Sherlock Holmes TV movies, with Roger Moore and later Christopher Lee as Holmes. Macnee was promoted to Holmes for 1993's The Hound of London.
In the late 1960s, just as jets were beginning to be hijacked, Macnee filmed a public service ad where he spoke the now rather unbelievable line, "It's all right to bring your guns into the airport, but please don't take them onto the plane with you." For this he was later given an award for "preventing terrorism."
Sad news. The old boy was an iconic figure when Britain WAS Britain and we didn't have to apologise for it.
The Avengers was a key part of the Swinging Sixties. Absolute nonsense but so stylish, knowing and different to anything before. They're all dying off now except for you and I. And even you're looking a little pale and transparent round the edges.
Oh, Miss Peel...
Oh, Miss Peel...
Since the news broke earlier today I've subsequently been burning the midnight oil and come up with a set of Speed Figures to see who would win The Avengers Crumpet Stakes race. The result is as follows :
1. Tara King (Linda Thorson)
2. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg)
3. Purdey (Joanna Lumley)
4 ran
1. Tara King (Linda Thorson)
2. Emma Peel (Diana Rigg)
3. Purdey (Joanna Lumley)
4 ran
It takes all sorts. How strange. Linda before Diana? You must have hit puberty when Linda was on. Explicable like Konrad Lorenz demonstrating imprinting with geese.
I wouldn't mind getting in a fight with Honor Blackman (Cathy Gale).
One of his finest cameos....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OipmKFDeM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OipmKFDeM
people who say so 60s so british are so right,take me back daddy-o
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