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Vale: Patrick Macnee

UK actor Patrick Macnee, best known for The Avengers, has died aged 93.

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UK actor Patrick Macnee, best known for The Avengers, has died aged 93.

He died peacefully at home n California with his family at his bedside, his son Rupert said.

“Wherever he went, he left behind a trove of memories,” said his website.

Macnee played John Steed on the UK spy series from 1961 to 1969. He returned when the series was reprised as The New Avengers in the 1970s, appearing alongside Joanna Lumley’s Purdey and Gareth Hunt’s Mike Gambit. Steed was known for his dress sense, always donning a bowler hat and carrying an umbrella, which was used as a secret weapon.

He made over 50 TV appearances in Hollywood and New York with various international credits including Sherlock Holmes, Playhouse 90’s, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dream On, Thunder in Paradise, Mysteries Magic and Miracles, Diana, Great Mysteries, Dial M for Murder, Thriller, Battlestar Galactica, Columbo, Khan, Dead of Night, The Hardy Boy Mysteries, Magnum PI, Hart to Hart, Murder She Wrote, The Love Boat, Diagnosis Murder.

Film credits included Hamlet, Sea Wolves, A View to a Kill, Les Girls, Mission of Danger, This is Spinal Tap, Dick Turpin’s Greatest Adventure, The Howling, Young Doctors In Love.

He also appeared in the Australian series For the Term of His Natural Life and toured Australia several times in theatrical productions.

In a 2014 interview Macnee said of The Avengers, “It was beautifully written, the ideas were very good, way ahead of their time and they incorporated fantasies for people who dreamed of doing exciting things.”

Source: BBC

8 Responses

  1. 93? Old age was the only thing that was ever going to get ‘John Steed’. Patrick Macnee was an iconic part of a wonderful era of television, when it was fun, not afraid to experiment and try new things. The Avengers was groundbreaking, often daft and even corny but we didn’t mind because the stars made it work with their charm and chemistry. Real pros. Bravo Patrick Macnee!

  2. I love The Avengers and still watch it regularly when some kind person uploads it to you tube. I wish channel 9 would stop screening the same episodes over and over. there are lots more they could show

    1. Yes, nine/gem only seem to play the one seaon. Diana Rigg was in two seasons. Her first was in b&w, the second in colour. So as we are seeing Emma Peel episodes in colour, it is only one seaon of the Avengers they keep playing. It would be good to see the 70s New Avengers with Joanna Lumley for a change.

  3. RIP Patrick. Loved his work on The Avengers in particular.

    And thanks to Channel 9 for still airing The Avengers repeats intermittently late at night to this day. It allowed a new generation of fans, like myself, discover the show, as I did about 6-7 years ago on Nine.

  4. Such an important tv series, and he was such an integral part of it – so suave and droll and charismatic. He had a good career by the looks of it!

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