It has been a bad month for actors I grew up with and that hold a place close to my heart. Christopher Lee passed away a couple of weeks ago. Not just an amazing actor, he was also an incredible human being, who really should have been the star of those Dos Equis ads. Now I’ve just read the sad news that Patrick Macnee, star of the Avengers, has also passed away.
As this article makes clear, Patrick did an amazing job of letting his female stars shine while retaining the balance of the show. It takes quite a talent to play an equal sparring partern alongside Diana Rigg in a catsuit but he managed it. Christopher and Patrick, you’ll be sadly missed. Here’s to all the pleasure you have given people over the years.
Not necessarily all that mainstream. I read his autobiography many years ago. He was very well aware of the BDSM content of the Avengers (most famously displayed in the episode about the Hellfire Club, in which the sainted Diana dances in corset and thighboots while brandishing a whip). In the book, he recalls meeting a member of the aristocracy, who was wearing leather underpants studded with drawing pins, who persuaded him that the Avengers should become kinkier.
Well, that’s how he *claims* he got the idea…
Farewell, John Steed. A true gent (with just a hint of cad), on and off the screen.
Thanks for the background. I’ll have to look out for that autobiography. Somehow it doesn’t seem too far fetched to imagine him chatting to a leather and pin clad member of the British aristocracy back in the 60’s!
-paltego
BBC radio4 carried an obituary for him and here is the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05zlh4f
Diana Rigg is mentioned here but do not forget his first ‘Avengers’ partner, the wonderful Honor Blackman.
who in real life was a Black Belt in Judo and wrote ‘Honor Blackman’s Book of Self Defense’
What a wonderful cocktail these actors made. It seems that in life Patrick McNee was just as charming as John Steed on screen
Thanks for the pointer to the BBC link. Long time since I’ve heard that Radio 4 program! I was always a big fan of Honor Blackman – both in the Avengers and as the forceful but ridiculously named Pussy Galore. Both her and Diana Rigg made for fine sparring partners with Patrick.
-paltego