'Patrick was a very dear man and I owe him a great deal': Diana Rigg pays tribute to her Avengers co-star who died yesterday aged 93 

  • Diana Rigg led the tributes to Patrick Macnee, who died yesterday aged 93 
  • The good friends starred together in 1960s television series The Avengers 
  • Sir Roger Moore also paid his respects to the actor, calling him a 'true gent'
  • Macnee died of natural causes at home in California with family at his side

By Ollie Gillman for MailOnline

Published: 11:34 EST, 26 June 2015 | Updated: 12:31 EST, 26 June 2015

Diana Rigg has led the tributes to her Avengers co-star Patrick Macnee, describing him as a 'dear man'.

The actress, who played Emma Peel alongside Macnee in The Avengers, said: 'Patrick was a very dear man and I owe him a great deal'.

Macnee, best known for playing the urbane intelligence agent John Steed in the 1960s TV series, was 93.

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Macnee, best known for playing the urbane intelligence agent John Steed in the 1960s TV series, was 93

Friends: Diana Rigg has led the tributes to her Avengers co-star Patrick Macnee, describing him as a 'dear man'

The actress, who played Emma Peel alongside Macnee in The Avengers, said he was a 'very dear man'

The actress, who played Emma Peel alongside Macnee in The Avengers, said he was a 'very dear man'

He died of natural causes at his home in California yesterday with his family at his bedside, his son Rupert said. He had lived in the US for the last 40 years.

Sir Roger Moore, who appeared with him in James Bond film A View To A Kill, described him as 'a true gent'.

He added: 'So very sad to hear Pat MacNee has left us. We were mates from 1950s and I have so many happy memories of working with him.'

Author and playwright Bonnie Greer added: 'When I was a kid, some folks were ‘one of us’ - Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Macnee. Dude of dudes. RIP Patrick Macnee.'

Goodness Gracious Me actor Sanjeev Bhaskar also paid tribute, saying: 'RIP Patrick Mcnee (sic). The Avengers also warm and wonderful foil to Sir Roger Moore in several films and Spinal Tap. Epitome of the British Gent.'

Before taking on his role in The Avengers (pictured alongside co-star Diana Rigg), Macnee worked for years in American and Canadian television before returning to London 

Before taking on his role in The Avengers (pictured alongside co-star Diana Rigg), Macnee worked for years in American and Canadian television before returning to London 

After The Avengers, Macnee continued to appear on stage and screen, starring opposite Sir Roger Moore in James Bond movie A View To A Kill

After The Avengers, Macnee continued to appear on stage and screen, starring opposite Sir Roger Moore in James Bond movie A View To A Kill

Macnee first acted at Summerfields Preparatory School in Shakespeare's Henry V opposite Christopher Lee, who played the Dauphin, before going on to study at Eton

Macnee first acted at Summerfields Preparatory School in Shakespeare's Henry V opposite Christopher Lee, who played the Dauphin, before going on to study at Eton

A statement paying tribute to Macnee on his website said: 'As an actor, and as a production executive, Patrick Macnee was known for his unswerving professionalism, his loyalty, his intuitive creativity, his unaffected courtesy, and his understated humanity.

'[He] was a popular figure in the television industry. He was at home wherever in the world he found himself. He had a knack for making friends, and keeping them. 

'Wherever he went, he left behind a trove of memories and good wishes.'

The son of a racehorse trainer, Macnee grew up in Berkshire and was educated at Summerfields Preparatory School, where at the age of 11 he acted in Henry V opposite a young Sir Christopher Lee.

He then went on to Eton College before training at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. 

After serving in the Royal Navy in the Second World War he turned his hand to acting, working at the Windsor Repertory Theatre and in some minor film roles before moving to Canada and the United States, becoming a US citizen in 1959.

Macnee found fame in The Avengers, playing the dapper British intelligence agent Steed throughout the original series from 1961 to 1969.

Dashing in his bowler hat and sharp suit, Steed was the epitome of the debonair English gentleman, the secret agent eschewing a gun to instead arm himself with a distinctive umbrella that doubled as a sword.

He reprised his role for the New Avengers in 1976-77 and appeared as the voice of Invisible Jones in the 1998 The Avengers film, starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman.

While Macnee's co-stars (pictured here with Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt in The New Avengers) often used guns, John Steed never wielded a weapon and was known for his skill with an umbrella

While Macnee's co-stars (pictured here with Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt in The New Avengers) often used guns, John Steed never wielded a weapon and was known for his skill with an umbrella

Macnee was married three times and first tied the knot aged 19 to Barbara Douglas, with whom he had two children. He went on to marry Catherine Woodville (pictured) and Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye
Macnee was married three times and first tied the knot aged 19 to Barbara Douglas, with whom he had two children. He went on to marry Catherine Woodville (pictured) and Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye

Macnee was married three times and first tied the knot aged 19 to Barbara Douglas, with whom he had two children. He went on to marry Catherine Woodville (pictured) and Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye

Macnee proved that he was as urbane in real life as his most famous character during an interview with The Lady magazine last year.

Quizzed on who was the most appealing of his three co-stars in the original Avengers series - Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, or Linda Thorson as Tara King - Macnee did the only thing an English gentleman could and politely sidestepped the question.

'The very first thing you learn if you're a gentleman is that you never compare one woman to another,' he said.

'That's the way of all death. You get a big pointed high heel in your groin and you'll never walk again!'

Macnee also spoke with pride at how the show paved the way for women to play leading action roles on television.

He told the magazine: 'The wonderful thing was it made women feel they didn't just belong in an apron in front of a stove cooking for the kids.

'It made them delight in the awareness that they could get out there and do it all, fight men, take on villains, all the kinds of stuff we showed in The Avengers.'

He added: 'I'm very proud of what we achieved for women with The Avengers.

'I don't think we knew that we were doing it at the time; it just seemed that a woman would make the ideal foil to my John Steed. And so she did.'

After The Avengers, Macnee starred on Broadway in Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, touring internationally with that play and several other productions and guest-starred in dozens of British, American and Australian TV productions, and later featured in an Oasis music video for their 1996 song Don't Look Back In Anger, appearing as the band's driver.

He was also in the 1985 Bond film A View To A Kill with Sir Roger, acting as Bond's ally, the horse trainer Sir Godfrey Tibbett. 

Macnee was married three times, including to actress Katherine Woodville, with whom he acted in The Avengers, and had two children, a son and a daughter, as well as one grandson. 

 

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