Hello All!   
      
   Patrick Macnee, famous for his role on "The Avengers" British TV series, died   
   Thursday of natural causes at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 93.   
      
   Macnee, who played John Steed in the spy-fi show, died with his family at his   
   bedside.   
      
   "Wherever he went, he left behind a trove of memories," a statement on the   
   actor's website read. "Patrick Macnee 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."   
      
   "The Avengers" initially focused on Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry) and his   
   assistant (Macnee), but Macnee's famously bowler hat wearing, um   
   rella-wielding intelligence officer (he never used a gun) became the   
   protagonist when Hendry exited the series. Macnee played the part alongside a   
   succession of strong, female partners, including Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg   
   and Joanna Lumley. [What? No Linda Thorson?] The show ran from 1961 and 1969   
   and was reprised in the 1970s.   
      
   The series was unsuccessfully adapted for the bigscreen in 1998 in a film that   
   starred Ralph Fiennes as John Steed and Uma Thurman as his female partner and   
   Sean Connery as the villain they faced.   
      
   The original "Avengers" TV series is still broadcast all over the world.   
      
   Macnee also made guest appearances on "Columbo," "Battlestar Galactica," "The   
   Love Boat" and "Frasier."   
      
   On the film side, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet," the 1951 version   
   of "A Christmas Carol," "This Is Spinal Tap," and the 1985 James Bond film "A   
   View to a Kill."   
      
   Macnee is survived by a son and a daughter as well as a grandson.   
      
   Donations may be made to the Actors Fund.   
      
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna - (1:3828/7)