Patrick Macnee was born on February 6, 1922 in London, England.

Patrick Macnee studied at Eton and during World War II he served in the Royal Navy, earning an Atlantic Star.

After the war, Patrick Macnee studied at Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art in London and started his acting career but moved to Canada, where he found better roles. Over the years, he had several more or less important roles not only in cinema but also on stage and in famous TV shows such as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Twilight Zone”.

Returned to Britain, in 1961 he was chosen to play the character that gave him great fame, John Steed. Originally, his was a minor character in the series “The Avengers” but in the second season he already became the star.

Patrick Macnee contributed personally to create different outfits for John Steed which, along with his bowler hat and umbrella, helped create the character’s iconic look. Macnee was also co-author of two novels based on the series. In 1998 he published the book “The Avengers and Me” in which he describes the behind-the-scenes of the production of “The Avengers” and “The New Avengers”. In 2008 the book was republished under the title “The Avengers: The Inside Story”.

“The Avengers” continued until 1969 but in the ’70s Patrick Macnee reprised the character of John Steed for two more seasons in the series “The New Avengers”.

Between the two shows and after the end of “The New Avengers”, Patrick Macnee played many roles and despite the fact that his fame is due largely to the heroic John Steed, in many cases he played a villain. In the original “Battlestar Galactica” he even played two roles as arch-villain: he gave voice to the Cylons “The New Avengers” and in some episodes he played Count Iblis (Iblis is Lucifer’s Muslim name).

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On various occasions, Patrick Macnee’s characters have winked at John Steed. In the series “Kung Fu – The Legend Continues”, he played a retired British spy named Steadman. It’s difficult to be more transparent than that in a reference! In the series “Spy Game” Macnee also appeared in some episodes in a role reminiscent of Steed.

Since 1959, Patrick Macnee is a U.S.A. citizen. In his life he was married three times: his first wife was Barbara Douglas from 1942 to 1956 and they had a son and a daughter, his second wife was Katherine Woodville from 1965 to 1969 and his third wife was Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye from 1988 to 2007, the year of her death.

In the ’90s Patrick Macnee significantly reduced his activity then he quit because of problems with arthritis and now enjoys a well-deserved retirement after a long and extraordinary career.