Patrick Macnee (1922–2015)

The late Patrick Macnee left behind a reputation bolstered by a long run as John Steed on The Avengers, as well as a unique claim to featured appearances in The Man from UNCLE (a reunion TV movie) and a James Bond movie. He also had a range of roles in various movies and TV appearances and a claim to one of the early tell-all books. That's this book, with its tales of a childhood raised in a lesbian harem and an indifferent father, the war years in the Channel aboard a Motor Torpedo Boat, three marriages, a lot of guilt, and a long slow-moving career in acting alleviated, thank goodness, by The Avengers. Plenty of movie anecdotes, happily, including some truly hilarious ones involving fellow actors, crazy fans, and crazier friends and relatives, not to mention a wry humor throughout the book. He attended Eton with Christopher Lee whom he would meet years later, thrown out of school right before graduation for selling booze and nude photos to fellow students. Excellent book, plenty of good information about The Avengers itself for fans, and even the usual boring story of the star's early years was entertaining reading. What a family!… (more)

I adore The Avengers. I don't mean the superhero movies, although those are fun, too. I'm talking about the 1960s British secret agent TV show. And so is Patrick Macnee, who played the inimitably stylish John Steed. In this book, he talks about his time on the show (and on its sequel, The New Avengers), interspersing his own reminiscences with quotes from other people involved in the production, and sometimes from critics. It's a bit rambly, and the casual sexism of the 60s is enough in evidence to occasionally make me uncomfortable. But it's interesting, and Macnee's discussion of the good and bad aspects of working on The Avengers, and of his own problems and shortcomings, feels very honest. There's also lots and lots of nice, glossy pictures, which I appreciated.… (more)

A pleasant trip back to the swinging sixties with everyone's favorite top professional, John Steed. Actor Patrick Macnee gives his own account of the show's production, told in a frank, anecdotal style that sometimes reveals just as much about his own neuroses as the famous program he worked on. It's light, entertaining stuff for the most part, but Macnee goes beyond self-deprication into a sort of self-doubt; he doesn't seem sure if he's deserving of his fame, or if he might've been happier with the more straightforward theatrical career he second guessed himself over, and he has a definite conflict over whether his upbringing simply made him subservient to women or able to finer appreciate their abilities in a sexist era. So it's occasionally a slightly uncomfortable experience reading the book; I'm not sure anyone really expects an actor to reveal his insecurities in a coffee table book!

That said, it's an interesting read, and a quick read, with Macnee's own thoughts punctuated by then-contemporary reviews and brief anecdotes from other production team members. Macnee doesn't favor any one period of the show, but the most insightful comments probably come at the conception of the show, and the early introduction of Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale - Macnee clearly remembers a lot about shaping the format of "The Avengers." After the first Emma Peel is fired and Diana Rigg comes in, the tone becomes more generally anecdotal, but it's still good to see all the bases - even "The New Avengers" - covered.

This is a reprint of the earlier 1990s book, "The Avengers and Me," with a new title and a new, glossy, photo-heavy format, which definitely makes the book more fun. It would've been nice to see the volume updated for the 2000s with Macnee's thoughts on what he refers to as the "prospective film version," but I suspect his own gentlemanly nature would, for once, restrict him from saying anything too revealing.… (more)