10/08/2024
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Patrick Macnee: "In the year 1960, which I think was when the Bond films started (actually 1962, but please continue, Patrick), somebody said, when I was in Canada, when I was preparing to do 'The Avengers', they said, 'Will you read the Bond stories by Ian Fleming to get an idea of your character?' And I read it and said, 'I would like to play, and in fact, I will not be in the show at all unless I can play, the part completely opposite to James Bond.' I find James Bond repulsive, sadistic and, of course, we now read the life of Ian Fleming and realize that he liked smacking women's bottoms more than anything else. Just read it."
On the screenwriters of "The Avengers": "There was no good writing, there was no clever dialogue. Di [Diana] Rigg and I used to write all our scenes because it was so badly written. They were written as rather ordinary thrillers, to be honest. The writers chose very clever topics, like having a robot man way before people thought of robots, etc. But what we really did, and I say 'we' advisedly, was to see what would happen if we took these perfectly straight stories and then made them ever so slightly ludicrous - because we thought that life was ludicrous anyway, which it is! To stay alive and all, you have to be slightly mad - but you also had to be basically cool. We used that, we tilted it a bit, we made it funny and the show worked."
When asked in June 1982 which "Avengers" female lead was his favorite, Macnee declined to give a specific answer. "Well, I'd rather not say. To do so would invite trouble," he told TV Week magazine. Macnee did provide his evaluation of the female leads. Of Honor Blackman he said, "She was wonderful, presenting the concept of a strong-willed, independent and liberated woman just as that sort of woman was beginning to emerge in society." Diana Rigg was "One of the world's great actresses. A superb comedienne. I'm convinced that one day she'll be Dame Diana" (his prediction came true in 1994). Linda Thorson was "one of the sexiest women alive" while Joanna Lumley was "superb in the role of Purdey. An actress who is only now realizing her immense potential."
During his run on "The Avengers", Macnee's only weapon was an umbrella sword; he was rarely if ever seen carrying or using a gun. Macnee has stated in interviews that he insisted on this, because he had seen enough carnage in combat during his military service in World War II.(IMDb/Wikipedia)
Happy Birthday, Patrick Macnee!