Never to be Forgotten: Patrick Macnee 1922-2015

Patrick Macnee, the veteran British actor pictured here in his role as the eeeevil Count Iblis on the original Battlestar Galactica, has died today at the age of 93. Most Americans will know him best as John Steed on the British TV series The Avengers, where he played opposite such fabulous babes as Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Linda Thorson and Joanna Lumley. Some younger fans might remember him from his cameo in Spinal Tap as Sir Denis Eton-Hogg. He had a long career and played in genre productions throughout it, including Low Budget Time Machine, NightMan, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Super Force, The Ray Bradbury Theatre, Lobster Man from Mars, War of the Worlds [1989 TV], Waxwork, Automan, The Creature Wasn’t Nice, The Howling, Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone [1959], A Christmas Carol [1951] and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

It is entirely to my discredit to bring this up, but I remember an interview in TV Guide where Diana Rigg complained bitterly that she was being paid a tiny fraction of Macnee's salary. As an American, I wasn't aware that he had been on the show longer than she had, but given what a seeming example of the equality of the sexes Emma Peel was in her day, it seemed to pre-pubescent me as a tremendous injustice. I write "a seeming example" because looking at the show today, one is struck by how often Mrs. Peel ends up a hostage.

Regular readers will know that I consider mentioning someone is The Guy (or Gal) at the Door as some sort of jinx, but Macnee was nowhere near the door. Someone who shared his birthdate but is younger has already died, and he is five years younger than the inexplicably alive Zsa Zsa Gabor. Go figure.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Patrick Macnee, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.