# Patrick Macnee, The Avengers 'John Steed', RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466 "2015-06-25T19:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/21 "2015-06-25T22:42:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > . . . I always liked his episode of Magnum, where he played an old friend and fellow MI-5 agent friend of Higgins, who thought he was Sherlock Holmes. Speaking of which, Macnee was Watson in “[Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100597/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_24),” opposite Christopher Lee as Holmes. A very nice little effort, not the greatest Holmes ever, but an entirely good one. (The music is particularly nice!) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/22 "2015-06-25T22:43:15Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I always liked his episode of Magnum, where he played an old friend and fellow MI-5 agent friend of Higgins, who thought he was Sherlock Holmes. MacNee was also a more than adequate replacement for the late Leo G Carrol as Alexander Waverly in the '80s revival of _ **The Man from UNCLE** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/23 "2015-06-25T22:44:53Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Speaking of which, Macnee was Watson in “[Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100597/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_24),” opposite Christopher Lee as Holmes. A very nice little effort, not the greatest Holmes ever, but an entirely good one. (The music is particularly nice!) Wasn’t he also Watson against Roger Moore’s Sherlock Holmes? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/24 "2015-06-25T22:47:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > MacNee was also a more than adequate replacement for the late Leo G Carrol as Alexander Waverly in the '80s revival of _ **The Man from UNCLE** _. His character, of course, had a different name: > **[Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E)** > > The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair is a 1983 American made-for-television action-adventure film based on the 1964–1968 television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum reprising the roles they had originated on that program. Several of the crew from the series also worked on the film, which was produced by Viacom rather than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and/or Turner Entertainment. Leo G. Carroll had died in 1972, so Patrick Macnee was ... ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/25 "2015-06-25T23:46:41Z")
Even though I had seen the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol” several times, it wasn’t until watching it last year that I noticed that he plays the younger version of Jacob Marley in it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/26 "2015-06-25T23:53:35Z")
I suppose his time had come. Steed was a childhood hero of mine. RIP ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/27 "2015-06-26T00:05:02Z")
McNee also had a minor part in “This Is Spinal Tap”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/28 "2015-06-26T00:23:52Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In an interview in the '70s, right after _ **The New Avengers** _ came out, MacNee put this issue to rest once and for all: Yes, Steed and Emma did do the nasty. They just took it for granted and never dwelled on it. For some reason I am saddened to learn this. Next thing you’ll tell me that Napolean Solo and Ilya Kuryakin were lovers on _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._ Macnee also played Derek Jacobi’s father in an episode of _Frasier_, where he made a pass at Roz. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/29 "2015-06-26T01:11:09Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > For some reason I am saddened to learn this. Next thing you’ll tell me that Napolean Solo and Ilya Kuryakin were lovers on _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._. To be fair, Macnee thought they did, Rigg thought it was just flirtatious and never went anywhere, and the show creator thought they had had an affair before she was in the series. So there’s no absolute answer. I prefer it that they were just friends. Now Tara King, yea, they were doin it all the time. RIP Mr. Steed. I bet even your Soviet enemies would show up at your funeral. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/30 "2015-06-26T01:21:46Z")
Steed and Peel were JUST FRIENDS! Jesus, every man and woman teamed up on a TV show does not have to be humping because, available penis must hookup with nearby vagina. The reason I liked the X-Files was mostly because Mulder and Scully were a working team and that was all. I would have laughed if Mr. Solo and Mr. Kuryakin were friends with benefits, but I just know Starsky and Hutch had a couple of quiet nights in off the clock! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/31 "2015-06-26T01:27:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > For some reason I am saddened to learn this. Next thing you’ll tell me that Napolean Solo and Ilya Kuryakin were lovers on _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._ > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > To be fair, Macnee thought they did, Rigg thought it was just flirtatious and never went anywhere, and the show creator thought they had had an affair before she was in the series. So there’s no absolute answer. I prefer it that they were just friends. Now Tara King, yea, they were doin it all the time. > [@salinqmind](#): > > Steed and Peel were JUST FRIENDS! Jesus, every man and woman teamed up on a TV show does not have to be humping because, available penis must hookup with nearby vagina. The reason I liked the X-Files was mostly because Mulder and Scully were a working team and that was all. Good grief, people. Do the 60s mean nothing to you at all? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/32 "2015-06-26T01:32:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > MacNee was also a more than adequate replacement for the late Leo G Carrol as Alexander Waverly in the '80s revival of _ **The Man from UNCLE** _. > [@terentii](#): > > Wasn’t he also Watson against Roger Moore’s Sherlock Holmes? :dubious: [It’s so! Sherlock Holmes in New York.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075208/) I’d never heard of those! Are the U.N.C.L.E. episodes available anywhere? Is the Holmes movie? (Yes! The movie is available on Amazon, and so is “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. – The Fifteen Years Later Affair.” Yay!) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/33 "2015-06-26T02:14:47Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Was _The Avengers_ the first British show to catch on in the U.S.? No. _The Adventures of Robin Hood_ predated it by over ten years, and there were several other British-based shows in the 50s that were shown on US TV. The _Avengers_didn’t even air on the US until its fourth season, which Diana Rigg joined. I did love the show when I was growing up, when the sexual innuendo went over my head. I did like the science fiction in the plots and was a big fan of Macnee. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/34 "2015-06-26T04:02:56Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > It’s been so long since I’ve seen any of the Avengers, but I do remember one episode where when someone was killed there was a quick little dance number. > [@terentii](#): > > I think that was a Tara King episode, the one with John Cleese and the clowns who were being murdered. You beat me to the answer. The killers were a couple of former vaudevillians; after murdering someone they would shuffle from the scene, raising and shaking their hats, like a like a vaudeville team leaving the stage. There was even music to play them off. And yes, pre-Python John Cleese was in it. He kept a registry of the makeup designs for every clown in England, painted on eggs, and stored on rows of shelves in his small office. A rather nervous sort of fellow, as you might expect. My mom was a big fan of _The Avengers_. She told me once it was he only show whose cancellation prompted her to write to the network and complain. I grew to appreciate it as well. The number and variety of inspired, high-functioning eccentrics is unmatched by any TV series to this day. It probably also leads the table in cool cars and leather catsuits. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/35 "2015-06-26T04:39:03Z")
**terenti** Peter Peel was played by Paul Weston - (Patrick Macnee’s stunt double - hence the incredible similarity). * * * I was (and still am) a huge Avengers fan. It premiered in America when I was in high school and like any other high school kid, I immediately fell in love with Diana “Mrs Peel” Rigg. Ahem… but as I got older I appreciated the series even more. Particularly, I loved the verbal word play between Steed and Mrs Peel. **Steed:** I certainly hope that message gets here. One time a dispatch was sent with all the vital information reduced and encoded onto a needle. Unfortunately, the messenger was walking along a road, tripped and fell into a haystack … **Mrs Peel:** And it was like looking for a needle … ? **Steed:** They’re _still_ looking! Those kind of conversations were incredibly funny and yet subdued enough to fit in with the British temperament. I have read that Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg did have some control over the writing in that show. (more like rewriting actually). Still, I would like to think that it was Parick Macnee’s and Diana Rigg’s acting and writing skills that set that show apart from all the others. Now half that team has passed away. RIP Patrick Macnee. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/36 "2015-06-26T07:00:02Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > RIP Mr. Steed. I bet even your Soviet enemies would show up at your funeral. Even Comrade Psev? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/37 "2015-06-26T07:04:22Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And yes, pre-Python John Cleese was in it. He kept a registry of the makeup designs for every clown in England, painted on eggs, and stored on rows of shelves in his small office. A rather nervous sort of fellow, as you might expect. And of course, all of the eggs (HUNDREDS of 'em, lined up on enormous shelves!) were destroyed when Cleese himself was murdered. :eek: This was arguably the best Tara King episode in the series! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/38 "2015-06-26T07:14:38Z")
After thinking about it some, I don’t believe it was clowns who were being murdered. I think the vaudevillians were clowns who were murdering VIPs. I loved the bit where they literally pulled the rug out from one minister’s feet and sent him sailing out his office-block window! (He and Tara had been talking about classical music, and the big moment came just as the orchestra in the background reached its crescendo.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/39 "2015-06-26T07:21:51Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I just know Starsky and Hutch had a couple of quiet nights in off the clock! :eek: The only episode of that series I ever watched was the one where Hutch’s latest girlfriend turned out to be a hooker and porn star, and Starsky paid her a visit on the sly to tell her to get out of town: “He’s lucky to have two people who love him so much” were her parting words, just before her corpse was found after the next station break. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466/40 "2015-06-26T08:53:06Z")
As usual, the Telegraph has the best obituary. > **[Patrick Macnee, actor - obituary](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11699769/Patrick-Macnee-actor-obituary.html)** > > Actor who brought Etonian nonchalance and jaunty eccentricity to the part of Steed in The Avengers > [@](#): > > Macnee was then expelled from Eton for running a pornography and bookmaking empire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-macnee-the-avengers-john-steed-rip/723466.md?page=3)