Patrick Macnee - RIP - An Avenger is Gone

So Very, Very British

• Younger readers have missed out.  Pre-dating the James Bond films by one year, The Avengers burst on to the world in 1961 with the leather clad Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg combining raw sex appeal with the ladies beating the crap out of male evil doers.  Pretty much a first in films.
• And then there was Patrick Macnee as super spy John Steed.  In a 1960s world that was rapidly disolving into a steaming pile, Steed represented class and everything that was safe and secure about an eternal England.
• As the insane owner of every DVD Avengers episode I can only say, "Patrick, thanks for the memories." 

(The Guardian)  -  Patrick Macnee, the actor best known for his role as John Steed in the 1960s television series The Avengers opposite Diana Rigg, has died at the age of 93.

His family were at his bedside at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, his son Rupert said in a statement published on Thursday on Macnee’s website.

Macnee and Honor Blackman
in The Avengers.  Blackman went on
to star in Goldfinger.

Born in London in 1922 to a father who was a racehorse trainer, he first took to the stage at the age of 11, acting in Henry V at Summer Fields preparatory school, before attending Eton College.

Macnee honed his craft at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London before serving in the Royal Navy during the second world war.

After being discharged he won some theatre and minor film roles, including that of Young Marley in Alastair Sim’s version of A Christmas Carol.

Macnee spent much of his adult life in Canada and the United States but returned to Britain in the 1960s when production of The Avengers began in London.

The “spy-fi” show, which ran from 1961 to 1969, made the cold war seem somewhat enjoyable and presented espionage as a glam, swinging 60s accessory, according to Toby Manning in the Guardian.

“What sort of fiend are we dealing with?” said the quintessentially English Steed in one episode. “A man who would bite the end off a cigar is capable of anything!”

The character never used a gun, preferring to use an umbrella as a weapon.

As well as Macnee and Rigg, The Avengers, and its 1970s reboot The New Avengers, also made stars of Honor Blackman, Joanna Lumley, Linda Thorson, Gareth Hunt and Ian Hendry.

The show, which proved particularly popular in the United States, was noted for a progressive approach to feminism, with the female stars being more than a match for Steed. It also featured stories based on cutting-edge technology.

Read More . . . .

The Avengers

The Journey Back at the 50th Anniversary

Of  all The Avengers episodes my personal favorite was "The House that Jack Built."  A high tech house that both kept you alive and also tried to kill you.  The episode reminds you of the Twilight Zone.  In my opinion the early black and while episodes were the best.
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Take the time to view it. Here is a link to that episode:
Daily Motion - The House that Jack Built