Cult figure, sex symbol at 64

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 14

Cult figure, sex symbol at 64

By

JO WEEDON

He came rushing out of the rehearsal room apologising for his lateness, the famous . super-slick elegance replaced by a casual, more dishevelled look. The collective calm of John Steed, that suave secret agent, had given way to a little breathlessness and some agitation.

Patrick Macnee is back in London ready to make a return to the West End stage after 34 years. He wipes the perspiration from his forehead, loosens his cravat, and flops into a chair, unwinding after a tough day-one of rehearsals. Predictably, it has been chaos, with lines to go through, scripts being rewritten and costume fittings.

Still devilishly handsome in spite of the fuller face and waistline, it is hard to believe 30 years have passed since his alter ego first stepped on to our screens, immaculate in Savile Row suit, cheekily-tilted bowler and rolled umbrella. A million television series have come and gone, but “The Avengers” repeats continually. At 64, he is a cult figure with the young, and a middle-class sex symbol for the young at heart. .

Macnee appeared in the video of the rock star Chrissie Hynde for her latest single, “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” in his John Steed guise, and old “Avengers” footage is cut into the film. Says Chrissie, lead singer with The Pretenders: “I have been a big fan of Patrick for years. I was thrilled when he agreed to allow some of his old clips to be used in the video.” “I was very flattered that Chrissie wanted me in the video,” says Patrick. “I enjoy her music.” But Steed is dead and buried as far as he’s concerned. “I haven’t watched ‘The Avengers’ for years. It’s too painful seeing yourself 30 years younger,” says the Old Etonian. “You can’t dwell on past glories. You must keep moving.” Exiled in California for almost 20 years since the show finished in 1969, he has been touring the world on stage, making films and television shows. None, of course, as fractionally successful as “The Avengers.” Yet that does not bother him. “I’ve never been remotely ambitious,” he announces. “I’ve always regarded my work simply as a job, not a career.”’

But in spite of three decades of professional triumphs, his personal life has been less than blissful. In The early 1950 s he left his first bride, Barbara, and their two young children, Jenny, now 36, and Rupert, now 39, at home in Sussex while he headed for Canada to become one of the country’s first television stars. They had married when he was a commander of a torpedo boat during the Second World War. When the war was over, he struggled to support the family on $36 weekly wages from Windsor Rep. So when an offer to appear on Canadian television for $2OO a week came up, he was off like a shot. “It was a case of having to fill the ever-open beaks of my children. I believed it was too good an opportunity to miss but, in retrospect, I wonder if I should ever have left.” He stayed in Canada for years, always intent on returning. When he did, the marriage was over. “Barbara and I are good friends now, but I don’t think she has ever forgiven me for not sending for her while I was away,” he sighs. “I should have done, but I didn’t want to give up my home in England. “I spent years doing good work with wonderful performers but I was always sad because I’d left my children.” Today, Rupert, a successful producer, works for N.B.C. and lives in Los Angeles, and Jenny, a chronic asthmatic, lives near Patrick in the Palm Springs desert resort. “The desert air saved her life,” he says. Her health has been a constant worry to Patrick. Ten years ago she had a

brain tumour, caught an infection which did irreparable damage, and she now has a steel plate in her head. Jenny has had four cardiac arrests in recent years — the last this summer. It was she who suffered most when her parents separated. Quite how badly, he dare not think. She was three when he

i left for Canada, never to ■ return again to the family i home. i “It’s very dangerous for I me to feel guilt in that i direction but I have wont dered if possibly Jenny’s asthma may have been I brought on by me leaving. > How the hell can you tell? ’ All I know is she suffered a lot as a result of the i divorce.

“There is still a lot of pain inside me because of it, but you can’t blame yourself too much.” There is also pain and sadness that remains from his second divorce to the actress Catherine Woodville. He lived with her for six years, long after his divorce, from Barbara. When they finally married she left him for another man only a year later. She was too young for him. He knows it now. All his life he was a magnet to the sort of women super-smooth Steed finds attractive ... strong, powerful women. But while Steed, with his panache was always able to match up to them, Patrick could not hope to compete on the same level.

The problem dates back to childhood. His mother, strong, intelligent, left his father, a famous racehorse trainer, Shrimp Macnee, and Patrick was brought up among the women she mixed with.

“Consequently, as an adult I always gravitated towards that type, and I was subservient “The women I should go for should be soft and round and fluffy and warm with nice big bottoms and pink-and-white Complexions. “The trouble is I always go for the ‘Avengers’ characters played by Honour Blackman, Di Rigg and Joanna Lumley, and they indelicately walk all over me.”

However, now he knows better and wishes he had realised it in his 20s rather than his 50s, but better late than never. Now there is a new love, a Hungarian lady — no names, he says — who is a perfect match. She is adorable, very dear, but as for marriage, he

shakes his head slowly. He lives alone at his Palm Springs home,- but says: “It would be wonderful to share a life with somebody permanently. I think that is everybody’s ideal. But I’m not lonely, I have lots of friends. In the early 19705, Macnee, the man every woman over 21 had fantasies about, went on tele- . vision at the peak of his “Avenger” success and dropped the bombshell that he had been celibate for two years. “It was after my second marriage broke up, I thought I’d done my duty, produced two children, and I didn’t need to carry on for the sake of it. After all, sex can be a terrible effort and slightly undignified for a man of my age,” he chuckles. "Being ‘in love’ only happens when you’re young. When you get to my age you consider yourself lucky to have any sort of relationship.” He has taken his own share of flops squarely on the chin. His most recent film, “Shadey,” with Anthony Sher, emptied the cinemas but the film before, the James Bond epic, “A View to a Kill,” won him rave reviews. Predictions are he will do more than good in “Killing Jessica,” which opens at “The Savoy Theatre,” London.

The play, directed by Bryan Forbes with a cast including Liz Robertson, and Angela Douglas, was a smash hit on American television last year and picked up the best drama award.

Patrick was in the original cast but is now playing the key role — a playwright determined to expose his wife’s killer. DUO copyright.